Harry Potter: Legend of the Dragon
by Dharaknoid111
Summary: With the return of The Dark Master, Malefor, the Dragon Guardians must seek help from the wizards of Hogwarts when Malefor sets his sights on conquering Earth as well as The Dragon Kingdom. Now Harry Potter, Spyro and their friends must stand united to prevent Malefor from aiding Voldemort in obtaining both the prophecy and The Elder Wand and plunging both worlds into darkness.
1. To Propose an Alliance

_**Chapter One:**_ **To Propose an Alliance**

* * *

_"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches._

_Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies._

_And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not._

_And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives._

_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies ..."_

"_Even in the darkest of times, there is always hope._

_But sometimes fear clouds our vision._

_Sometimes our strength gives out._

_And yet sometimes, when all seems lost, a light shines through the darkness._

_And we are reminded that even the smallest amount of courage._

_Can turn the tides of war…"_

* * *

Albus Dumbledore sat alone in his office, in the throne-like chair behind his desk. Although he was in his one hundred and ten's he certainly didn't give off the impression that he was as old as he looked, despite his wrinkled face snow white hair and beard, both of which were long enough to tuck into his belt. But at this moment he certainly did look like an old man; he sat slightly slumped in his chair, rubbing the bridge of his nose between his finger and thumb.

It was not an easy year at Hogwarts so far, Lord Voldemort had returned, the Ministry was refusing to face the truth that he was back and had instead focused its efforts into slandering himself and Harry Potter, who had witnessed the Dark Lord return, having witnessed the death of a fellow student and narrowly escaped the same fate himself. The minister Cornelius Fudge had instated his Senior Undersecretary, Dolores Umbridge, into the teaching post of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, but had granted her more and more powers to interfere at the school for the student's so called _best interests_ all to make sure that Dumbledore couldn't use them as recruits in the army Fudge believed Dumbledore was raising against him.

Personally Dumbledore didn't care what they did to him, he had always been thought to be a bit eccentric and perhaps he deserved it, given the aura he had often given off. It didn't matter that he had been ousted as the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards or that his Order of Merlin, First Class had been revoked, as long as he wasn't taken off the Chocolate Frog Cards! Perish the thought.

But Chocolate Frogs were the least of his worries; right now his main concern was Harry Potter. Ever since Voldemort had returned to power he has feared that the connection between him and Voldemort would be stronger than ever, and that if Voldemort ever became aware of this connection and saw that the old Headmaster's relationship with Harry was or, ever had been, closer than that of Headmaster and Pupil he would use the boy as a means to spy on him, which was why Dumbledore had distanced himself from Harry ever since they had parted ways last summer. He had convinced himself that it was for the best, more so since he had discovered that his suspicions had been right; that Harry had seen through the eyes of Voldemort's snake Nagini one night in a dream when she attacked Arthur Weasley who was patrolling the outside of the Department of Mysteries on his orders. Although Harry suspected that this was because Voldemort was possessing Nagini at the time it was actually because both Harry and Nagini were Horcruxes that each housed a portion of Voldemort's soul and this was the reason for the connection between Harry's mind and Voldemort's.

Harry had no idea of this and Dumbledore intended for it to stay that way for the time being, he wanted Harry to be happy for as long as possible which was why he had also put off telling him why Voldemort had tried to kill him as a baby; the reason being Harry was the only person who had the power to finish Voldemort for good or else be killed by his hand. And this brought Dumbledore back to the main problem he was facing right now; was keeping Harry in the dark really the best thing to do, he knew that Harry currently resented him for this and so did Harry's godfather Sirius Black. Despite being blessed with extraordinary brainpower, which he was not too proud to admit, he now found himself wondering if his staying silent would turn out for the best in the long run. He deeply regretted the amount of manipulation of certain people in order to ensure the Order of the Phoenix won the upcoming war, but he had convinced himself that it was ultimately for the greater good. He chuckled in spite of himself; there was that old saying again, _"for the greater good",_ and the last time he had believed in that it had come at a great personal cost to him, one which he would never forgive himself for. Eventually he decided to do what he had always done, watch and wait to see how things would pan out, and intervene when necessary, but he didn't half wish that there something more he could do.

"…_.Albus Dumbledore…."_

Dumbledore jumped, startled by the sudden foreign presence that had touched his mind, and he was secretly glad that no one was around to see the mighty Albus Dumbledore jump with fright; he would never hear the end of it.

Cautiously he allowed the stranger's mind and his own to connect, whoever it was that had contacted him, they must be extremely powerful to not only have penetrated the Occlumency defences he had shielded around his mind at all times, but to have gotten through the magical barriers that had surrounded Hogwarts Castle itself, only time would tell if this foreign presence was friend or foe.

"_I apologize unreservedly for contacting you in this manner, but I have watched you from afar for a long time, I know that you are a good man who only desires peace and prosperity, and I would never have contacted you if you weren't the only one who could help us." _The voice was old, deep and wise, much like Dumbledore himself, but that wasn't what made the old Headmaster decide that this person could be trusted; it was the genuine sincerity of his words, time and time again Dumbledore had discovered that he had become an excellent judge of character, not at all like in his youth, but he could tell that what this person truly did need his help, the only question was why.

"_You are most welcome, but who may I ask are you, and why do you need my help?" _He asked politely.

"_I understand that you may find this difficult to believe but I am not of your world. I come from a place far away; a place that has always coexisted in secret alongside yours, much as the Wizarding World has coexisted alongside the Muggle World. My kind has suffered many hardships before peace was finally restored to our land. But now the evil that has plagued our world has reared its head once again, only now it seeks not only the dominion of our world, but your world as well. I have come to you because you are the only one who will understand our pain and our plight."_

Contrary to what the foreign being believed, Dumbledore didn't find the fact that he came from a different world difficult to fathom; he had always suspected that there were many areas of magic that had remained untapped throughout the world.

"_But then again not much surprises me anymore these days."_ Dumbledore thought to himself with a small chuckle, before he addressed the stranger once again, _"What is it that I can do to help?"_ he asked immediately.

"_I know that you seek to stop the rampage of this Voldemort villain who is terrorising your world; that he seeks to destroy the only one who can stop him. I come to you because our situation is similar: there is one in __our__ world who can put a stop to this evil once and for all; this great evil will not rest until this threat to his plans has been annihilated. I know that if we combine our resources we may yet be able to save both of our worlds,"_ at this a grave note entered the wise, powerful voice, _"even now the great evil approaches Voldemort, hoping to gain his alliance so that they may both be rid of their respective obstacles and conquer both of our worlds. The only way to stop this most deadly alliance is if we work together….I beg of you….will you help us?"_ The being asked pleadingly.

Dumbledore's brow was furrowed; he had never imagined that there would be an exact situation to what the Wizarding World was facing playing out in an entirely different universe. Fate certainly did have a strange way of doing things. Nevertheless this being was correct, if Voldemort allied himself with this ancient evil the war would be lost for sure, but if he helped this being to defeat this great evil, then maybe, just maybe Voldemort himself could also be beaten in the process, and given what had happened in his own past he could not stand by while innocents suffered, regardless of what world they came from, with this in mind he made his decision.

"_Your burden is heavy dear friend, and my heart reaches out to you. I will help you, not only because it will save my own world, but because by doing this it will also save __your__ world. I learned a long time ago that if you are able to help someone then you have a moral obligation to help them."_ He answered the being kindly.

He felt a tremendous joy emanating from the being's consciousness, _"Thank you so much Albus Dumbledore, you have the eternal gratitude of myself and my kind, and I promise that I will also do everything in my own moral obligation to help your world in any way I can! You have awakened my hopes once more and I know in my heart that we will succeed!"_

Dumbledore smiled at the being's jubilation, as he couldn't help but feel his own heart rejoicing at this revelation that they finally had a source of ancient magic on their side, magic that could help lessen the tragedies that would soon strike when Voldemort finally made his move.

"_Once again you are most welcome, but if we are to make this partnership work, it might help if you told me your name."_ He asked teasingly.

He felt the being chuckle inside his mind,

"_My name is Ignitus, Dragon Guardian of Fire."_

* * *

Voldemort sat alone in one of the high-backed chairs in front of the fireplace at Malfoy Manor. His long, bone white fingers were folded in front of his lipless mouth, his eyes were closed and his head slightly bowed as though in prayer, his serpent familiar Nagini lay curled at his feet. Voldemort was deep in thought, although he showed no outward sign of emotions, he was angry, yet he should not have been; with the Ministry of Magic so blatantly ignoring his return; instead choosing to focus their efforts slandering that Muggle loving fool Albus Dumbledore and ten of his Death Eaters recently escaped from Azkaban, including the ever faithful Bellatrix Lestrange, everything should have been perfect. Yet Voldemort knew that things would never be perfect until he held the prophecy in his grasp, once he had obtained the knowledge of how to destroy that wretched Harry Potter once and for all he would never know peace.

He could not risk obtaining it from the Hall of Prophecy himself for fear of exposing himself to the Aurors, and he was keen to allow those fools at the Ministry to wallow in their ignorance for as long as possible until he was ready to make his move. So far his efforts to have others obtain it for him had resulted in two failed attempts, one because of incorrect information based on Avery's incompetence. It wasn't until Augustus Rookwood returned to his side that he discovered that Harry Potter could obtain the prophecy for him, and so he had set about exploiting the mental connection he had recently discovered he shared with the boy; but his plan of drawing Potter to the Department of Mysteries by showing him the place in his dreams, hoping that natural curiosity would draw him there had proved fruitless. It made the great Dark Lord grit his teeth in anger, he could not understand why the boy would not come, did he not want to discover why he- the greatest sorcerer of all time- had tried to kill him as a baby, even the thought of being angry only incensed him further as he felt he was above such human emotions as mere anger.

His blood red eyes with their cat-like slits for pupils opened slowly and he stared at Nagini's sleeping form, if only he could find a way to get Potter away from Hogwarts and out from under the crooked nose of that wrinkled senile old fool.

"…_.Voldemort…."_

The Dark Lord tensed, he had felt a mild stirring in the back of his mind, a presence seeking entry that he did not recognize. His slit-like pupils contracted as he reacted to the foreign touch to his consciousness, not drawing back, but demanding to know who was there.

The answer was soft, hissing like a snake, not unlike the Dark Lord's own voice, _"….An ally….an ally who has observed you for some time….who has watched your machinations closely, and has found himself….impressed…." _ The voice finished, allowing the last word to drag on slightly; sounding more like a serpent than ever.

Voldemort was usually wary about talking to strange, magical intruders in his mind, and this intruder must be a powerful one indeed to have reached so far into his mind without Voldemort noticing him until he had decided to make his presence known, and, with a slight stab of indignation, that he had dared use his chosen name so plainly as though they were old friends, a concept Voldemort knew nothing of. After a moment of contemplation he replied within his own mind, _"And why have you contacted me?"_ Even in his own mind Voldemort's words were serpentine and morbid.

"…_.To propose….an alliance…."_ The voice replied smoothly.

"_And what could I possibly gain from such an alliance?"_ Voldemort pressed on, trusting this stranger less and less.

Soft laughter rang through Voldemort's head, causing him to grip the handle of his wand under the folds of his black robes; _did this stranger found him amusing?!_ Voldemort considered severing the connection right there and then, but held on to see if the stranger would elaborate.

"…_.Trust me….you and I have more in common than you know….and I am not merely referring to the fact that we are both so feared that the common people prefer to not even say our names…."_ The stranger said with a hint of amusement in his voice.

At this a cruel smile worked its way onto Voldemort's face, clearly this fool had no idea of whom he was speaking to, _"Highly unlikely, I am Lord Voldemort, the most powerful sorcerer the world has ever known. I know of no other wizard who is as feared as I am. I __am__ fear, I __am__ power, and you….you are nothing…."_ He waited patiently to see if the stranger would respond to this jibe, but the answer that came was not in all honesty what the Dark Lord was expecting.

"…_.Who said that I was a wizard? ..."_

Voldemort's eyes narrowed at this, he decided to choose his words carefully from this point onwards, whoever this person or creature was he was clearly something extremely ancient, and it irritated the Dark Lord to no end that here was once again proof of old magic that had escaped his notice, but before he could reply the stranger spoke up again.

"_As I have said….I have watched you from afar and believe that I can help you to destroy the one you seek….the one called….Harry Potter…."_

Voldemort stayed silent for several minutes as the stranger's words sank in, _"And why, pray tell, would I need __your__ help to destroy Potter?"_

A low chuckle emanated from the stranger, _"Because I also have a similar problem….there is one that I too wish to destroy….one who deeply threatens my plans….and who has also continually eluded my grasp….I believe that we could help each other to take down our enemies….and if even __I__ am not too proud to ask for help….I do not see why you should be…."_

Voldemort sniffed haughtily from his slit-like nostrils, he was not so weak as to have to ask for help from another, he needed help from no one, and this stranger was foolish to presume so. If he had come to ask the Dark Lord for help he clearly was not as powerful as he had briefly thought he was. He was just about to sever the connection when the voice spoke again.

"_Do not presume to know me human….I only come to you because I know that an alliance forged between us will be mutually beneficial to both our causes….not just to dispose of a certain troublesome individual….otherwise we would not even be having this conversation…."_ The menacing edge that had now entered the stranger's voice would have sent anyone else cowering under the nearest rock in terror, but something about this animalistic, otherworldly voice, with its stated intent of assistance to his plan to conquer the Wizarding and Muggle world stirred something inside of him, and he chose to, at the moment, ignore the taunt.

"_What could you possibly offer me? I have an army; my faithful Death Eaters, Ministry wizards bewitched into following me and an army of dark creatures whom all fear."_ He asked, genuinely curious to know more.

The voice had switched by to its usual soft, slippery tone, _"Not only can I guarantee you the prophecy you so desperately seek….I will offer you the chance to possess the most powerful wand in existence….it goes by many names; The Death Stick, The Wand of Destiny….but I believe you would most commonly now it as….The Elder Wand…."_

Voldemort contemplated these words, it was true that he had heard of wands said to be the most powerful in existence from his history lessons at Hogwarts, although he had never really given them any serious consideration at the time. But now that this stranger had risked entering his mind to offer him the chance to possess the Elder Wand the legends must be true. He was still wary about an alliance with this being, but for the chance to not only claim the most powerful wand in history as his own, but a guaranteed chance to obtain the prophecy was just too good an opportunity to pass up. Nevertheless he cautiously pressed the stranger for more information, _"Even if I agree to this what do you expect of me in return?" _

The stranger's voice was softer than ever, _"….That when the time comes….I will call upon the services of you and your army to help me with my own agenda of conquer….and to destroy the one whole constantly stands in my way…."_

Voldemort's smirk widened even more, just as he had suspected; whoever this person was, he wanted the Dark Lord's help with whatever plan he had had to conquer whatever town or country or continent he desired. He obviously thought that he could control him- the great Lord Voldemort- the sheer audacity of the thought nearly made him laugh out loud. But he decided to play along for now, he would make use this stranger's assistance to help him obtain the prophecy, then the Elder Wand, and finally destroy Potter, but then the game would be reversed; when this being came to Voldemort for help he would take whatever ancient power he possessed for his own as well, The Elder Wand would guarantee _that_. Of course if this being was half as smart as it thought it was then it would suspect that Voldemort would turn on him once he had The Elder Wand and have a contingency planned prepared, but this being wasn't the only one who could play that game.

Voldemort dipped his head, _"Very well. It is agreed."_

The Dark Lord felt immense satisfaction emanating from the being, _"….Thank you very much….I promise that you that you shall not regret it….I will contact you again in due course to make the necessary preparations…."_

Voldemort smiled his broadest smile, showing his teeth, but he had one more question to ask before he severed the link, _"But there is one more thing I wish to now….you now my name, but what shall I call you?"_

The voice remained silent, for a moment Voldemort thought the being wasn't going to answer him, but then the voice sounded out one last time before it completely faded away,

"_The Dark Master."_


	2. The Shadow of Legend

**_Chapter Two:_ The Shadow of Legend**

* * *

Harry Potter was in an extremely good mood as he exited Defence Against the Dark Arts with the rest of the class for lunch, even another boring lesson from old toad face Umbridge couldn't damper his spirits. Needless to say things couldn't have been better for him at the moment; Dumbledore's Army was making astounding progress, more or less the whole school now believed that he was telling the truth about Voldemort's return since that Quibbler interview and best of all, Cho Chang was back on speaking terms with him, he wondered if they could consider themselves to be going steady now ever since she had forgiven him for that disastrous first date at Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop. But nonetheless, if this year could come to a close without any more hiccups, _("and hopefully with Umbridge's sacking"_) he thought to himself gleefully then he could come back next year in much better spirits than when he arrived this year.

Beside him, red-haired, freckled Ronald Weasley and brown bushy-haired Hermione Granger were having one of their usual bickering's.

"For the last time Ronald; _I. Will. Not_ let you copy my History of Magic homework," Hermione said, punctuating her words for added emphasis.

"Oh come off it Hermione!" Ron scoffed, "It's not like I'm going to carry it on next year or anything, and I just want to be able to pass it so I could have at least one more O.W.L to my name."

Hermione snorted in derision, "_Honestly_, how you are going to be able to hold a job when I'm not there looking over your shoulder to make sure you haven't signed the name Roonil Waslib instead of Ronald Weasley on your CV is _beyond_ me!"

Now it was Ron's turn to roll his eyes, "Whatever, let's just get down to the dinner already, I'm starving, feels like I haven't eaten in days!" He exclaimed as he clutched at his stomach as it gave a particularly loud rumble.

Hermione sighed in exasperation, "Is food all you ever think about Ron? No wonder you need to copy my homework!"

"Only because you're the best witch in our year Hermione," Ron said with a hint of genuine fondness in his voice, "I don't know where I'd be without you."

"Obviously not." Hermione said, trying to sound sarcastic, but looking gratified all the same.

"He's right you know Hermione," Harry grinned, wanting in on the action as well, "and after all Ron, what would the teachers think of _'the best student in the year'_ if she turned down help to those who desperately needed it?" He asked as he elbowed Ron in a friendly gesture.

"Oh shut up." Hermione snapped, but she couldn't hide the pink blush that appeared on her cheeks.

"I know Harry, imagine what McGonagall would say," Ron added in a mock grave tone of voice, "Goodness me Miss Granger, and I thought you were the sensible one, can you not see that Mr Potter and Mr Weasley would do anything for you and yet you refuse to help them in their hour of need! Five points from Gryffindor!" Ron added in a surprisingly good imitation of the Transfiguration Professor's strict manner causing both himself and Harry to burst into peals of laughter, and causing Hermione, who had gone scarlet with both anger and embarrassment to wrench her copy of _Advanced Transfiguration_ out of her bag and start beating both boys about their heads with it, but Ron seemed to get most of it.

"Ouch!... Hey!...Come on old friend….old friend!" Ron cried as he tried to shield himself from Hermione's blows.

"Old friend!? You stole my idea for showing the Shield Charm in the last D.A. lesson! You cut me out of demonstrating the Impedimenta Jinx entirely!" Hermione nearly screeched as she continued to pound away at Ron having forgotten about Harry completely.

Harry laughed softly as he turned away to head down to dinner; he had found that the best thing to do was when they got like this was to leave them alone. But when he turned around he found himself face to face with the pretty face and long silky black hair of Cho Chang.

"Hi." Harry said automatically as he felt heat rush to his face from Cho's sudden appearance.

"Hi back." Cho said politely with a shy smile.

"We'll be at dinner Harry." Hermione said, ceasing her beating of Ron, seizing him by the arm and dragging him away down the hall, leaving Harry and Cho alone.

Cho stared after then and stifled a giggle, "Did I miss anything interesting?"

"No, no…just…err...Ron and Hermione, arguing over nothing as usual." Harry said nervously. He quickly searched around for something else to say, "How've you been?"

"Oh, very well thank you." She replied, flashing him a dazzlingly smile, that only made Harry blush more as he stifled a giggle of his own. This in turn set Cho off and pretty soon, both of them were laughing heartily; the embarrassing tension in the air finally broken.

"Yourself?" Cho asked once asked once they had finally gotten a hold of themselves.

"Just fine," Quickly he decided now was the best time for a compliment, "You did great last D.A. lesson, your Shield Charm is coming on very well."

This caused Cho to go red, "Only because I had such a great teacher."

Harry grinned; delighted in spite of himself that Cho thought he was a great teacher.

"The reason I wanted to talk to you was because there's another Hogsmeade weekend coming up soon and I was wondering if you'd like to head out with me again." She asked in a rush, looking tense.

Harry was taken aback; after the last trip he was certain she'd never head out with him again. But then he remembered that she'd forgiven him for it,

"Sure I'd love to, same time same place?" He asked, hoping he didn't sound _too_ enthusiastic.

Cho's face broke out into a relaxed smile, "Great! I'll see you there then?"

"Sure." He said, before quickly adding, "I meant it when I said you'd been making great progress in the D.A. I'd say you're one of the best."

Cho blushed again; flattered, "And I meant it when I said you were a really good teacher."

"Thanks."

Cho hesitated before headed off again as if there was something more she wanted to say, before she leaned forward quickly and kissed him on the corner of his mouth, but unlike last time, she held it slightly longer before dashing off down the corridor.

Harry touched the spot where she had kissed him feeling slightly light headed, before setting off after Ron and Hermione, whistling a merry tune while he went. Clearly nothing could spoil what was turning out to be a perfect day.

Two thing happened at once; Harry felt like his head had been split open as his scar burned fiercer than it ever had before, causing him to double over in agony, clutching his head, and at the same time two people's screams rent the air, causing Harry's blood to turn to icy: Ron and Hermione were in trouble. Blinking through the pain Harry pelted up the deserted corridor and whipped around the corner, greeting him was a gruesome sight.

Strange creatures were grappling with Ron and Hermione who were desperately trying to shake them off, there were about ten to fifteen of them. At first Harry though they were goblins, but upon closer inspection he saw they appeared to be made up of earth and grass; they had vines twisted together that served as long lanky arms and legs with sharp claws on each, long thorns protruded from the tops of their flat grass-covered heads that resembled horns, and beady insectoid eyes peered out from underneath two small mounds that served as their eye sockets. About five of them wielded long iron spears with which they were poking and jabbing at his two friends with, backing them up against the wall.

Ron managed to shake one of the little beasts off his arm, grabbed his wand and shouted,

"_Stupefy!" _The bright red light of the Stunning Spell knocked the creature clean off its feet and slammed it against a wall with enough force to cause it to break apart and fall to the ground in pieces. This only caused several of the others to shriek and growl in anger, one of them even hurled his spear straight at Ron. Without think, Harry instinctively grabbed his wand, pointed it at the spear and yelled,

"_Impedimenta!" _A bright blue, blast of magic shot out of the tip of his wand with the speed of a bullet and struck the spear dead centre, causing it to slow its progress and giving Ron enough time to kick several of the other monsters out of his way so that he could get out of the spear's trajectory. This unfortunately caused the creatures to notice Harry's presence, several of them advancing on him grunting and growling, but Harry was prepared.

"_Flipendo!" _The whitish-blue jet of light of the Knockback Jinx shot out of his wand and sent one of them flying backwards about ten paces where it also shattered into pieces from the impact.

Two more of the creatures hurled their spears at Harry, but he easily blocked them with a Shield Charm and retaliated with a Reductor Curse which caused both of them to exploded in a blast of earth and vines.

Hermione meanwhile was being assaulted by three the spear wielding monstrosities, but she wasn't going down without a fight,

"_Inflatus!"_ She shouted pointing her wand at one of them which began to swell at an exponential rate before exploding; showering her with dirt, but that didn't slow her down, pointing her wand at the second one she shouted,

"_Avifors!" _A stream of black energy, tinged with blue that resembled a flow of ravens struck the second one, and in an instant it had reshaped itself into a tiny sparrow which promptly took flight out an open window. The third one made several angry clicking noises before raising its spear to hurl it at her, but Hermione didn't waste a second,

"_Glacius!"_ A blast of ice wind shot from her wand and froze the creature solid in less than five seconds, but she didn't let it get off that easily;

"Little beast!" She snarled as she kicked at the helpless creature with all her might, shattering it into a million pieces. She whipped her hair out of her face as she turned to face Harry and Ron who were finishing off the others.

Harry stood panting as he looked around at the mess the creatures had made of the corridor, but before he could even ask how they hell they were going to explain this to the teachers, the windows above Ron and Hermione's heads shattered and three larger creatures leapt through them. The first two roughly human sized; tall, thin and distinctly more lizard-like than the others, with reptilian-like snouts and tails, they had crossbows strapped to their left arms, and short swords bound to their sides. Ron and Hermione didn't even have time to scream before the creatures knocked their wands out of their hands with a swift whip of their tails, covered their mouths with their hands, and wrapped their other arms around their chests, pinning their arms to their sides.

"Guys!" Harry shouted in shock as he raised his wand at the monsters that had trapped his friends, but the monsters used Ron and Hermione as shields, hissing threateningly at Harry.

The third one that had come through the window was of bulkier build than the other two and seemed to be made up of wood rather than earth. It had red eyes, curved tusks jutting up from its lower jaw and strange bat-shaped ears. It had a large metal shield strapped to its left arm and in its right hand it held a sword. It glared at Harry before turning to its comrades, opened its mouth and spoke in such a strange chocked growling voice that Harry had to strain his ears in order to understand it.

"Take them to the Forbidden Forest; I shall deal with this one."

The two creatures restraining Ron and Hermione nodded before somersaulting back out of the two windows they had come in, taking the their two, struggling captives with them, leaving Harry and the other one alone.

The creature began to advance on Harry slowly with its sword raised up to its shoulder, perfectly poised to strike. But Harry was far too angry to be intimidated by this sight, he stood his ground and addressed the creature, "I don't who you are or what you want, but I don't have time to deal with you, and if you get out of my way now, I promise I'll leave you in one piece." He said in a low voice that shook with anger.

At this the creature merely made a gargled noise which Harry guessed was supposed to be laughter and continued its slow advance on the teenager, the blade of its sword glinting evilly in the sunlight.

Harry gripped the handle of his wand hard, "Wrong answer, _Stupefy_!"

The bolt of red light soared from Harry's wand tip, but the creature just raised its shield and deflected the blast before lunging forwards to slash at harry with its sword.

Harry threw himself out of the way of the swords vertical slice before rolling over and aiming at the creatures exposed back,

"_Diffindo!_"

White light sliced a gouge in the creature's back, causing it to throw its head back and roar in pain, but as it did so, a shower of dark purple energy erupted from around its body, leaving scorch marks in the floor wherever the blasts hit. Harry rolled out of range of the dark energy but as he straightened back up again the creature was nearly upon him; it slashed at him again and this time the blade just missed his neck. Trying not to panic, Harry quickly aimed at the creatures face and shouted,

"_Incendio!_"

A stream of flames shot from his wand and hit the monster in the face, causing it to stumble backwards screeching in agony, Harry thought for sure that a teacher or someone would hear the noise and come to investigate, but then he remembered that they were all at dinner. Realising he was on his own he knew he had to end this fight quick; he had to save Ron and Hermione. Aiming his wand at the writhing monsters shield he cried, "_Carpe Retractum!_"

A rope made of orange energy shot out of Harry's wand and latched itself onto the creature's shield; Harry seized his wand with both hands and pulled as hard as he could. The creature, having recovered from the pain, saw what Harry was trying to do and pulled back, a tug of war ensued between the two, but in the end Harry won; and wrenched the monster's shield off its arm and hurled it down the corridor where it crashed into a suit of armour.

The creature snarled in fury and charged at Harry with its sword held directly out in front of it, intending to skewer him on its point, but Harry was faster,

"_Expelliarmus!_"

A jet of scarlet light from Harry's wand tip hit the monster's sword and sent it spinning out of his grasp, but Harry wasn't done yet; pointing at the monsters legs he cried, _"Reducto!"_

The brownish-orange light of the curse connected with both of the monsters legs and blasted them clean off, sending wood splinter flying everywhere and causing the monster to tumble head first into the wall moaning in pain.

Harry kept his wand trained on the monster as he walked over to it and kicked it over onto its back, it tried to claw at Harry but he brought his foot down on its wrist and pinned its left arm to the floor.

"Who are you, _what_ are you, who sent you!?" Harry snarled, his wand pointed at the creature's throat.

The creature stared up at him with hate filled red eyes, "The first of many, who will not rest until this world and all others bow at our master's feet!" It snarled as it wrenched a small vial of blue liquid out of a notch in it left arm and swallowed it whole before Harry could do anything to stop it.

"Long live…. The Dark Master!" It gargled before blue foam dribbled from its mouth and its head slumped backwards on the floor; it had poisoned itself.

Harry tried hard not to panic, but his mind was racing; Ron and Hermione had just been kidnapped by some weird monsters that had somehow managed to infiltrate Hogwarts, a feat itself which should have been impossible. Harry's first thought was to run straight to Dumbledore, but then he remembered that the Headmaster hadn't even so much as looked at him all year and raw anger ran through him as he remembered this. Besides, by the time he had reached Dumbledore and tried to explain this absurd story to him it might already be too late for Ron and Hermione who had been taken to the Forbidden Forest of all places.

Just then it hit Harry, and he knew what he had to do, without wasting a breath he sprinted down the hall, flew down the moving staircases, nearly tumbling Filch and Mrs Norris along the way (_"Watch where you're going Potter!", "Meow!"_), past the Great Hall where the rest of the school was having dinner, completely oblivious to the battle that had just occurred, through the huge double doors and out into the sunny grounds, heading straight for the Forbidden Forest, or more importantly, who lived at the edge of it. After all; who knew the Forest better than Hogwarts' Gamekeeper: Rubeus Hagrid.


	3. The Legend Arrives

**_Chapter Three: _The Legend Arrives**

* * *

Harry pelted across the grounds as fast as he could, heading straight for the hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. It was a beautiful spring afternoon; the sky was blue and cloudless and the sun shone down, students roamed around chatting about homework, Quidditch and whatnot. None of them paid any attention to Harry who was hurtling towards the Game Keeper's cabin, the only thought that rang through his head was getting his two best friends back from the monster's that had taken them.

Harry was relieved to see that Hagrid was sitting outside his cabin with his great black boarhound Fang, he had hoped against hope that Hagrid wouldn't be teaching a Care of Magical Creatures lesson; every second he wasted, Ron and Hermione could be in greater danger.

Hagrid looked up and smiled through his huge bushy black beard as he saw Harry coming,

"Hello 'Arry, come to 'ave a cup o' tea-" Hagrid didn't get time to finish as Harry skidded to a halt in front of him and started blurting out everything that had happened breathlessly.

"Hagrid….you have to-to help me…! Ron and Hermione were taken…..by these-these-these things! They're in the….Forbidden Forest….you have to…."

"Whoa! Whoa WHOA! Slow down there 'Arry!" Hagrid said loudly as he held up a frying pan sized hand to silence the panicked boy, "Now take it easy, an' tell me wha' happened from the beginnin'." He said calmly.

Harry tried hard not to panic or shout at Hagrid, they couldn't afford to waste any more time, but he forced himself to take several deep breaths as he relayed the whole story to Hagrid, slow enough so that he could understand him but fast enough so that they could save them sooner.

Throughout the whole tale Hagrid's face got whiter and whiter until by the end of it he was completely silent and deathly pale. Several seconds passed in silence and for one desperate moment Harry thought Hagrid wouldn't believe him, but then Hagrid got up seized his cross bow that was resting beside the stump he was sitting on, loaded it with an arrow and said, "Then wha' are we waiten' for, let's go!"

Harry was stunned that Hagrid had accepted his story without question, "You believe me?!" He asked weakly.

"O' course I believe you 'Arry! I know you; know you wouldn' make stuff like this up fer nothin'! Now come on, we've gotta save Ron an' Hermione." Hagrid stated as he turned and headed straight for the Forest, Fang trotting at his heels.

Harry felt an rush of affection for Hagrid, he had known in the back of his mind that Hagrid would believe him, he cared for Ron and Hermione just as much as he did. Harry whipped out his wand before running after Hagrid's retreating form.

* * *

Even in the middle of the day the forest was dark and quite, the trees grew so closely together that they blotted out all sunlight, forcing Harry to light his wand. Despite what Harry dreaded, it had been easy to pick up the creature's trail, Hagrid had identified the marking's their claws had left in the soft earth just a few minutes into the forest.

"How do you know those are their tracks Hagrid?" Harry asked, trying not to sound too desperate; the last thing he wanted was for Hagrid to think he doubted his ability to traverse the forest.

"I've seen jus' about all the tracks o' every beasts tha' live in the fores' 'Arry, and the boys tha' left these 'ere tracks ain't local." He explained darkly.

The three continued deeper into the forest, Harry and Hagrid didn't say a word to each other, but they didn't need to; they both knew what was at stake if they didn't find Ron and Hermione in time.

Harry tried hard not to think about the terrible things those creatures might do to his friends, but he couldn't help it; he imagined sharp claws and teeth, red hot spears and swords, and his friend's dying screams. On top of that, the words of the monster that had took its own life kept coming back to him: _"Long live….The Dark Master!"_ There could only have been one person the thing had been referring to, and it chilled Harry's blood to think that once again Voldemort was using the people he cared about in order to get to him, and he couldn't stand to think that this time his two best friends could end up dead because of him.

Harry was so absorbed in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed Hagrid had stopped, causing Harry to walk right into him, the sudden impact nearly knocking him to the ground.

"Shhhhh!" Hagrid whispered as he aimed his crossbow at a large bush that stood about ten yards away from them. Harry raised his wand at the bush and waited with baited breath for something to strike. The moments passed in silence as Harry and Hagrid kept their attention focused on the bush. Just when Harry couldn't take the suspense any longer and was about to set the bush on fire a whooshing sound cut through the air and Hagrid suddenly whirled around and pushed Harry to the ground just as an arrow embedded itself into a tree at the same level where Harry's head had been just a second before.

Three of the tall, thin, reptilian-like creatures suddenly leap out from their various hiding places, with their own crossbows at the ready. One of them aimed at Hagrid's head while his back was turned, but Hagrid moved with speed Harry had never seen before an planted an arrow right between the creature's eyes, it slumped on the ground dead. Fang was barking madly as he charged one of the others, but it nimbly dodged the dog's snapping jaws as it drew its short sword from its scabbard and aimed a blow at Fang's neck. Harry recovered enough from Hagrid pushing him to the ground to aim his wand at the monster and shout,

"_Stupefy!"_

The bright red jet of light hit the monster, who had been too preoccupied with Fang to doge the spell, it stumbled dazed, but this was all Fang need, he seized the monster by its ankle and pulled it to the ground, it tried to kick back but the Stunning Spell had left it too weak to fight back. Fang pinned it to the ground with both his paws on its chest and went for the neck; Harry quickly whipped his head away but couldn't block out the monster's terrible screeches as it had it undoubtedly was having its throat torn out.

Hagrid meanwhile was trying desperately to finish off the last of the creature's, but it dodged every arrow he fired at it with absurd ease; letting the half-giant get close enough to it before whipping around and knocking the crossbow out of his hands with a thrust of its tail. Hagrid tried to pull out the pink umbrella, that contained the two parts of his broken wand, from his moleskin coat, but the monster fired an arrow of dark purple energy from its crossbow, sending Hagrid slamming into the ground as it smote him on the chest.

"Brain over brawn you foolisssshh oaf!" It hissed as it turned its attention to Harry.

Harry's snarled in rage; this thing had already helped take Ron and Hermione away from him, he'd be damned if it was going to take Hagrid too.

"_Reducto!"_ Harry shouted, as he aimed at the monster, but it leapt over the spell with lightning speed and fired another arrow of dark energy. Harry dodged the arrow and aimed at the creature once more,

"Expelliarmus!"

The beast spun out of the way of the Disarming Charm, before hurling itself and Harry and knocking him to ground. Harry struggled and clawed to get the creature off him, but in an instant it had pinned his wand arm it the ground with its left foot and pressed the cool blade of its short sword to his neck. It leered down at him, showing needle sharp teeth.

"The thing about you humansssss isss that you are always sssssso predictable." It hissed down at him, its breath stinking of rotten flesh and earth.

"Did you think you could jussssst take your friendssss back ssssso easily?" It sneered as it pressed the blade further against Harry's throat, when he struggled to free his arm from under its clawed foot.

"There isss no way you could accomplish thissss, not when we are stronger than you, fasssster than you and sssssmarter than you!" It said in savage pleasure, but then it noticed that Harry was grinning.

"What could posssssibly have to ssssmile about!?" It asked annoyed.

The answer to its question came in the form of Hagrid sneaking up behind it, seizing it by its neck with one hand, lifting it effortlessly off the ground and pinning its arms to its sides with his other arm.

"Well at least I'm not alone." Harry said sardonically, as he got to his feet.

"Are you alright 'Arry?" Hagrid asked in concern as he kept a tight hold on the struggling creature.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Harry replied as he brushed himself off before pointing his wand at the monster, he wasn't done with this one yet.

"You're going to tell me who you are, who sent you and where you've taken my friends!" Harry stated slowly and coldly to make sure the creature heard him. Its response was to spit in Harry's direction causing Hagrid to grab one of its arms and give it a sharp twist, making it squeal in pain.

"I'll ask you one last time." Harry said menacingly as he advanced on the creature with his wand pointed between its eyes, "Where. Are. My. Friends!?"

"You will burn for thisssss!" The thing spat in disgust, making Hagrid twist its arm even more.

"If we don't get nothin' outta this one 'Arry, you want for me to break 'is arms?!" Hagrid growled.

Harry looked the monster right in the eye, something in its gaze told him that it was prepared to have its arms broken and more before it talked.

Before Harry could say anything else, he felt another arrow whizz past his face, nicking his left ear as it passed. Harry whirled around to see that the creature Hagrid had nailed between the eyes was still alive; it was making a gagging noise which combined with the arrow embedded in its skull, made it look positively nightmarish, it raised its crossbow at harry again, but before it could fire another arrow hit it directly in the heart, and this time to keeled over, unmistakeably dead this time. Harry turned to see that it was Hagrid who had fired the shot; he had thrown the monster he was holding away in order to get his crossbow back. But rather than continue the fight, the monster thrust itself into the earth and burrowed away.

Hagrid lowered his crossbow, breathing heavily, then he saw the look in Harry's eyes and shrugged sadly; he knew that Harry wished he hadn't let the captured monster escape to save his life, but also that he was grateful that Hagrid had saved his life as well.

"Hagrid I-" Harry began awkwardly, but Hagrid cut him off.

"I know 'Arry, I know…."

They stared at each other for a while, and then Harry walked up to Hagrid and hugged him, the half giant returning the gesture. Their friendship had become so deep that simple actions such as these spoke louder than words.

They broke apart as Hagrid straightened up, wiping a tear out of his eye, before clearing his throat,

"Well, we'd best be findin' Ron an' Hermione then." He said as he slung his crossbow over his shoulder and they continued following the monster's trail, Fang trotting along behind them.

Before long they came to a clearing and to Harry's immense relief saw the Ron and Hermione were both there; bound and gagged with green vines. They looked a bit dirty and haggard, but apart from that they appeared unharmed, which was just as well; Harry had feared that they might already be too late.

"Hold still, I'm going to cut you both loose." Harry instructed as they both started struggling and their desperate shouts were muffled by the vines around their mouths when he approached.

"Hagrid, could you help me out?" Harry called over his shoulder to Hagrid who was wiping Fang's muzzle clean from the creature's blackish blood.

"Sure thing 'Arry" Hagrid said cheerfully as he flourished his pink umbrella. Ron looked a bit nervous; Hagrid wasn't supposed to use magic with his broken wand, justified considering what Ron's broken wand had done in his second year.

With a few carefully placed Severing Charms the vines eventually fell free around Ron and Hermione.

"Bloody hell Harry," Ron gasped as he rubbed his arms were the vines had cut into them, "What sort of- of- of-_things_ were they?!" Ron's face was contorted as he struggled to find the words to describe the creatures that had abducted him and Hermione.

All Harry could do was shaking his head to show that he had no idea what these creatures were either before turning to Hagrid, "Have you ever seen things like these before Hagrid?"

Hagrid shook his head slowly with a look of deep concern on his face, "No Harry, ain't never seen things like these in the fores' before. Yeh know me; know jus' about every magical creature that ever lived, but these 'ere things ain't natural; there's definitely an air ah dark magic about 'em."

"I don't think it really matters _what_ these things are!" Hermione said shrilly as she raked out twigs that had become entangled in her bushy brown hair, "Right now the most important question is _how_ on earth did they manage to penetrate Hogwarts' defences without being detected?!" She asked as though the fate of the universe hinged on the answer.

Ron and Hagrid exchanged a worried glance; clearly neither of them had an idea how these things had gotten into Hogwarts, but it was then that Harry spoke up, "I don't know what these things are or how they got in, but I definitely think that they're connected to Voldemort." He said firmly.

Ron, Hermione and Hagrid were looking at Harry extremely tensely, he had this hard blazing look on his face that they hadn't seen in a long time, it told them that he believed that Voldemort was behind this attack and he wouldn't accept any other possible explanation.

Finally Ron broke the silence, "How'd you figure that mate?" he asked nervously.

"Since their attack I managed to incapacitate two of them, when I tried to question them on who they were working for one of them took poison, the other would have stood for having his arms broken. Voldemort's the only person I know you could put that sort of scare into people." He explained, now that Hagrid had told him that he had never encountered these creatures before it had only strengthened his belief that Voldemort had sent them just like he had the pair of Dementors last summer. But it was what the first one had said that made him suspicious in the first place, "Not only that; the first one also said _'long live The Dark Master'._" He added, allowing the words to sink in.

Hermione who had followed every word with rapt attention now spoke up, "It is a definite possibility Harry, although I've never heard Voldemort called _The Dark Master_ before, usually when people talk about him they refer to him as 'You-Know-Who', 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named' or 'The Dark Lord' but never The Dark Master."

"Who else could it be though?" Ron asked with a raised eyebrow, "I don't see any other possibility unless there's another insanely powerful evil wizard that we don't know about running around loose in the world." He added with a sarcastic edge to his voice.

"I'm just trying to consider all the facts Ron!" She snapped back.

"You mean the fact that you and me were just kidnapped and taken to the Forbidden Forest so that they could get Harry out of the castle and isolated? That stinks of You-Know-Who if you ask me!"

"Well for your information I _wasn't_ asking you, so if you could just-"

Harry rolled his eyes in exasperation; here they went again, squabbling as usual as though nothing had happened. But he had to agree with Ron this time, putting his friends in danger so that he would come to their rescue was exactly something Voldemort would do. Luna was right; Hermione really could be narrow-minded at times. He deliberately left out the part when his scar had burned just before the attack, because he really didn't need another lecture from Hermione about how he should be studying Occlumency with Snape better. He turned his attention away from his bickering best friends to Hagrid.

"How do you think they got in Hagrid?"

Hagrid stroked his beard, deep in thought, "I dunno Harry, and that's what frightens me most; Hermione's right, those things shouldna' bin able to get into Hogwarts, not with all the protection aroun' it. It would take some sort of extremely advanc'd Dark Magic."

"Do _you_ think Voldemort could be behind this?" Harry pressed on.

Hagrid winced at the name but continued on, "I….I'm not sure Harry, I'm jus' not sure. You-Know-Who may be powerful, but yeh 'ave to remember that it's not jus' Dumbledore's magic that's protecting Hogwarts; there's tons of other spells an' enchantments from eons pas' protecting it as well. I doubt even You-Know-Who could break through all of them."

Harry sighed as he ran his hand through his untidy black hair, making it even messier, "So do you think that this whole attack was just some random coincidence? That these creatures just _happened_ to stumble across Hogwarts and just _happened_ to come across me, Ron and Hermione, and then decided to kill us just for the sheer joy of it?" With a bite of anger in his voice that no one seemed to be taking this incident as seriously as he was.

"No o' course not," Hagrid spluttered in shock, "All I'm sayin' is that these 'ere creatures were definitely sent 'ere for a purpose, and if it _was_ You-Know-Who who sent 'em then we've got a serious breach in security that the Headmaster needs to address as soon as-"

Hagrid's abrupt silence and the fact that he was looking in horror at something behind Harry made him whip around.

Another of the strange creatures was standing a few yards away from where they stood, although this one was significantly larger than the others; it was about as large as the Mountain Troll he and Ron had faced in their first year. It was a hulking mass with legs as thick as tree trunks and powerful muscled arms; its scaly skin was grey and so rough that it looked as though it was made up of boulders. Two curved horns grew out of the sides of its head like a bull, its red eyes were like two red hot coals and its mouth was lined with curved, pointed teeth. Wooden, moss infested armour covered its shoulders, arms and chest, with a metal shield strapped to its right arm and a huge spiked mace gripped in its other. But it's most distinguishing feature was the enormous scorpion tail with its pointed stinger that curved up over its back. Harry had never before in his life seen a more nightmarish looking monster. He started to reach for his wand but the creature seemed to have sensed what he was up to, because with blinding speed it threw itself through the air with its mace held high up over its head, Harry just barely managed to leap out of the way before it brought with weapon crashing down onto the spot he had been just moments before.

Hermione was screaming, Ron was yelling, Fang was barking and Hagrid was unloading arrow after arrow from his crossbow into the beast, but it was so large that he might as well have been shooting needles at it.

"RUN HARRY!" Hagrid shouted as he notched another arrow, but with a roar the beast lashed out with its mace, it caught Hagrid in the side and sent him crashing into a tree which he slid down and laid slumped, unconscious, a trickle of blood running down his temple. The creature turned to face Harry, its face contorting into what looked like a smile and it spoke in the same chocked, growling language as the others did, "You stopped my brethren, but you won't escape from me!" It hissed as it advanced on Harry with its scorpion tail held high.

Harry managed to whip out his wand from the inside of his robes; he aimed at the creatures head,

"_Stupefy!_"

A jet of bright red light hit creature dead between the eyes but it did absolutely nothing to impede its progress. Harry scrambled backwards on his elbows, desperate to try to put as much distance as he could between himself and the monster, all the while firing spell after spell at it.

"_Stupefy, Impedimenta, Reducto!_"

But it was no use, the creature was like a Troll or Giant; it was either so large or so powerfully magical that all of his spells simply bounced off it. The monster was finally within striking distance of Harry and its tail was drawn back ready to strike, but just then Hermione's voice range out.

"_Incarcerous!_"

Thick black ropes wrapped themselves around the beast's scorpion tail and wrenched it back with such force that it stumbled slightly. With an enraged hiss it turned to face Ron, Hermione and Fang who had a hold of the other end of ropes attached to the its tail and were pulling with all their might. The beast raised it mace up and slammed it down into the ropes, cutting through them like butter and causing the three to be thrown backwards due to the force they were exerting on holding the beast back. But this had bought Harry all the time he needed to get up and out of the creature's striking distance, he ran to the monster's side and slashed with his wand, aiming at its head once again.

"_Diffindo!_"

This time the white light of the Severing Charm hit its mark; right on the beast's right eye, it gave a screech of pain as it clutched at its eye with its right hand, its mace flailing about in pain and rage. Harry ducked under the mace and ran to his fallen comrades.

"Are you alright?!" He shouted over the din of the wounded beast.

We're fine, are you?" Ron panted as Harry helped him and Hermione to their feet.

"I'm okay, listen," Harry said urgently as he grabbed Ron by the shoulder, "get back up to the castle, get Dumbledore and _ONLY_ Dumbledore and tell him what's happened. I'll hold this thing off, I can't leave Hagrid alone it'll kill him!"

"Are you mental?! You can't fight that thing on your own it'll make mincemeat out of you!" Ron shouted in outrage as he grabbed Harry by both of his shoulders, "We're staying Harry!" Ron growled, showing that he was not about to just abandon a friend in need, but Harry didn't have time for this now.

"I'm not going to let you and Hermione die for me! You're already in this mess because of me and I'm not going to put the two of you in any more dan-"

"LOOK OUT!" Hermione screamed, as she pointed behind Harry.

Harry swung around and only just had time to duck out of the way before the monster's huge foot collided with his head. Ron and Hermione weren't so lucky; the beast's foot connected with both of them and sent them flying at least ten feet away before they came crashing back down to earth where they both lay very still.

Rage erupted in Harry like the night when Aunt Marge had insulted his parents. He straightened back and thrust his wand towards where the beast's heart should be. "YOU BAST-" He roared, but he never got the chance to finish as the monster's huge fist suddenly closed around him, pinning his arms to his side and lifting him right off the ground. The monster brought Harry close to its face which was a picture of pure hatred; the Severing Charm had gouged its eye out, so that blackish-red blood ran down its face. It tightened its grip on Harry so much that he felt at any minute his bones were going to be crushed, blood rushed to his head making him so dizzy that he didn't even have the strength to struggle against the monster's iron clad grip. The creature spoke again, but it was so angry that the words sounded even more garbled than ever, making them almost completely unintelligible.

"My master wants you alive vermin, but he didn't specify if you were to be brought back in one piece or not. But I can assure you; the loss of my eye will only be a mere _fraction_ of the pain you will experience." It snarled as it arched its scorpion stinger tail over his back once again.

All Harry could do was watch helplessly as complete hopelessness consumed him; Ron and Hermione were going to die because he'd been too proud to go to Dumbledore for help when he had the chance, there was no way that this monster would leave them unmolested after it was finished with Harry. Tears ran down his face as he closed his eyes and waited for the blow, unable to believe that after all he had done in his life, this was how it was going to end….

A flapping sound filled the air and suddenly bright orange light blazed through Harry's closed eyelids. Harry's eyes shot open just in time to see a blast of fire smote the monster right in the face, causing it to roar in pain and drop Harry, who fell to the ground the a hard thud. Harry grunted in pain as he scrambled to pick up his fallen wand, his arms and ribs felt like they had been in the coils of a boa constrictor but he ignored the pain as best he could. His heart was hammering like mad, it felt like it was about to leap out of his chest, right now all he could think of now was making sure Ron and Hermione were OK.

"_Don't be dead; please don't let them be dead…."_ Harry pleaded inside his head and he ran towards their motionless forms, but just then another blast of fire and a roar from the monster made him stop and turn around. He couldn't believe his eyes at what he saw.

A Dragon was flying around the monster, ducking and dodging around and underneath its swinging mace and tail, with incredible skill and grace. The Dragon was only about half the monster's size, with two curved, golden horns that pointed upwards on top of its head, running along the middle it its head was a curved red crest with golden spikes, large golden wings with wine-red membranes sprouted from its back, its long tail ended in a brown cone shaped spike, its fore and hind legs each had three toes with razor-sharp iron coloured claws and tightly bound yellowed armoured plates covered it's stomach and chest. But the most dazzlingly feature of this Dragon was that its entire body as covered from head to tail in shining violet scales. Just like Dumbledore's pet phoenix, Fawkes, this was undeniably a creature of beauty and majesty.

The Dragon breathed a blast of flames at the hulking beast, but it hid behind its shield to block the attack. This didn't appear to deter the Dragon on bit; without slowing down it curled itself up and cannonballed itself at the monster as green energy surrounded its entire body encasing it in a spiked ball of solid stone that crashed into the monster's shield and shattered it into pieces. The beast bellowed in fury as it raised its mace up into the air to slam it into the stone ball the dragon was encased in, but then a blast of black energy erupted around the monster's left foot and another Dragon thrust itself out of a shadow on the ground, slashing with glowing purple claws in a spiral motion, causing the beast to lose its balance and fall crashing to the ground.

Harry could only stand flabbergasted at the appearance of this second Dragon; unlike the other one this one had a far lither, feminine form. It had three long, curved, iron coloured horns on both sides of its head with two emerald coloured eyes set into its long pointed skull; its wing membranes and chest plate armour were a dark magenta colour and its tail ended in an evil looking curved metal blade, but its most interesting features were the platinum jewellery that adorned its body: four chokers that it wore around its neck, its two front legs and the middle of its tail. Unlike the brilliant purple scales of the first Dragon this one's scales were as black as the void itself, reflecting no light.

The purple Dragon had freed itself from the spike boulder it had encased its body in and landed on the ground beside the black female, the monster struggled to get back on its feet but the two Dragons took a deep breath and exhaled in the beast's direction; the black Dragoness shot a blast of wind from its mouth and the purple one followed up with a freezing cold blue blast of ice that, when combined with the black dragon's wind breath, covered the monster's whole body. It didn't even have time to scream before it was completely frozen solid. But the Dragon weren't finished yet; they leapt into the air and dove downwards with their horns, striking the frozen giant in the middle of its chest and shattering it into pieces as though it had been nothing more than a hideous ice sculpture.

It was then that Harry became dimly aware that his mouth was hanging wide open, he realised he must look ridiculous but he didn't think he could muster the strength to close it; he, Ron, Hermione and Hagrid working together couldn't stop that monster yet these two young Dragons took it down like they had been doing it all their lives. It was amazing and horrifying at the same time to think how much damage they could do if they so wished and Harry definitely didn't want them as his enemies if he could help it. Harry was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even notice that the purple Dragon had walked right up to him and was now looking down at him with deep purple eyes. Harry started when he finally acknowledged the Dragon's presence and instinctively raised his wand towards its face, his heart beginning to pound once again. The Dragon was only two heads taller than him, but that didn't make this one any less intimidating than the Hungarian Horntail he had to go up against last year, and he realised with a sick swoop in his stomach that very few if any of his spells would be any use against it if it decided to attack him; he had seen that it took nearly thirty wizards to stun a fully grown Horntail. But something in the back of his mind told him that this Dragon wasn't dangerous, that somehow it and the other one had deliberately attacked that monster in order to _rescue_ him. Harry at first thought that idea was absurd: Dragons were little more than animals and couldn't be domesticated, but there was something familiar in the Dragon's eyes, a look that he had seen somewhere before. Suddenly he realised that it was the same look he saw in his own eyes every time he looked at himself in the mirror ever day after he had saw Cedric Diggory die; a damaged, flawed being, but one that was still fighting, still daring to hope, but most of all: still daring to love.

Harry wasn't sure if he was dreaming or not, that maybe the battle had taken more of a toll on him than he first thought, but he could have sworn the Dragon opened its mouth and spoke to him,

"Are you alright Harry?"

This was too much for Harry to handle, his legs felt like lead, the world was going fuzzy, the ground rushed up to meet him and then….oblivion.


	4. Shadow of Evil

_**Chapter Four:**_** Shadow of Evil**

* * *

Harry was floating along nicely, not sleeping, but not really awake either; just stuck in that realm that was between the world of reality and the world of dreams. It was warm and fuzzy here and Harry wished he could just stay here forever after all the hell he had gone through in the Forbidden Forest. It was then that it all came rushing back to him: the creatures made of earth, Ron and Hermione tied up with vines, the huge monster crushing his very bones to powder and the purple and black Dragons that had appeared out of nowhere and saved his life, how the purple one had spoken to him.

It was this thought that caused his sense of to return to him and he jolted upright, his eyes shooting wide open. His vision was blurred and Harry realised it was because some had removed his glasses, he felt around for then and found them on the bedside table, picking them up he put them back on and the world came sharply back into focus. He saw that he was in the Hospital Wing; someone had undressed him and put on his pyjamas. With a cold sense of dread he remembered that Ron and Hermione had also been injured by that monster, he spun his head around frantically but couldn't see either of his friends in any of the other beds, he was just about to get up and search for them when Madam Pomfrey came bustling out of her office.

"Ah, good, you're awake." She said sternly, but not unkindly. Harry had been in the Hospital Wing so many times over the years he had been at Hogwarts that she had clearly got accustomed to seeing him there.

"Where are Ron and Hermione?" Harry asked urgently, still trying to get out of bed.

"They were brought in with a few small fractures, but other than that they were just fine." She said as she tried to force Harry back into the covers of his bed again.

"Where are they?" Harry asked, gently pushing against her to get out the bed.

"They left just a few hours ago; I assure you they're perfectly fine. You, however, are not," She said with a bite of impatience as she continued to try to force harry back into bed.

"I want to make sure that that there has been no lasting damage done; you were in slightly worse shape than they were, and until I deem that you are fit to leave you are my patient and I will make sure that you get plenty of bed rest and that you don't do anything to overexert yourself." She said with an air of finality that reminded him so much of Professor McGonagall when she had made her mind up.

"I don't need bed rest, I need to find Ron and Hermione and make sure _I_ know they're alright!" Harry said loudly as he forcefully threw the bed sheets aside. "Besides where are they, why aren't they here making sure I'm alright? You'd think that after I'd just saved their lives they might show a little gratitu-" Harry never got to finish his sentence, because with a flick of her wand Madam Pomfrey caused Harry to be forced back down onto his pillow and the bed sheets to spring back up to his chin, where they pulled down tightly over his body; pinning him in place.

"I'm afraid I would call that overexertion," She said sternly as she raised her wand at harry threateningly. "And for your information the Headmaster asked them to meet him in his office after I had released them from my care, which is why they haven't been to see you. Now you _will_ sit there quietly and rest Potter or I shall use a Permanent Sticking Charm on you, understand!?" She said sharply.

Harry gritted his teeth in annoyance, both nodded grimly all the same. Satisfied, Madam Pomfrey raised her wand and the sheets loosened their hold on Harry, who sat back up but made no move to get out of bed again. Madame Pomfrey headed back to her office again, leaving Harry alone with his thoughts.

The scenes that had transpired that day rushed through his head; knowing that Ron and Hermione were safe quelled his fears, but he still couldn't forget what he had heard the sword wielding creature say to him when he demanded to know what it was: _"The first of many, who will not rest until this world and all others bow at our master's feet!"_ He also remembered what the larger one in the Forest had said to him; how it had wanted to take him alive, now he was surer than ever that Voldemort had sent these creatures. He didn't care what doubts Ron, Hermione and Hagrid had, he knew Voldemort was behind this. His only regret was that he hadn't gone to Dumbledore as soon as Ron and Hermione were taken, then maybe this whole mess could have been avoided. He brought he knees up to his chin and buried his head in them; what if he hadn't gotten there in time, what if he hadn't been able to hold off the monster for as long as he did? He felt sick and ashamed that his own pride and selfishness had nearly gotten his three best friends killed.

But then he remembered that Dumbledore had only asked to see Ron and Hermione; he hadn't bothered to wait until harry was well enough so that they could all go and see him together, and Harry felt a surge of anger that Dumbledore was once again keeping things from him, that he didn't seem to think Harry could be trusted with certain information for fear that Voldemort might try to use the connection he shared with Harry to possess him. Harry's anger eclipsed the fact that he felt guilty about his reckless actions, if anything he now felt as savage pleasure that he hadn't gone to Dumbledore, which he showed that he could handle himself just fine; maybe now Dumbledore and everyone else would stop treating him like some sort of helpless teenager. That little voice in the back of his head told him that everything Dumbledore was doing was for his own good, but he found it inexcusable that the Headmaster still wouldn't even look Harry in the eye anymore.

Harry took of his glasses, rolled over and tried to sleep as the sky outside his window turned blood red, signalling dusk was fast approaching. Harry knew that sleep wouldn't come to him easily, especially if he was going to have nightmares about those two talking Dragons coming after him in the middle of the nigh-

Harry shot upright in the bed again, in his anger at Dumbledore ostracising him, he had completely forgotten the two Dragons that had saved him from that monster. He was certain that one of them had talked to him before he passed out, as impossible as it sounded. And what had happened to them after Harry passed out? Did Dumbledore know about them, what that why he had called Ron and Hermione up to his office? Harry hated being so uncertain, but one thing he did know for sure was that the purple Dragon certainly seemed to know him for it had said his name, asked him if he was alright. There were so many questions that needed answering and he sure as hell wasn't going to get them tonight.

Sighing, he lay back down again and thought about what he was going to do tomorrow; he knew the first thing he was going to do as soon as he was discharged was go straight to Dumbledore and tell him everything he knew, then demand that the Headmaster tell him all that _he_ knew, if anything, about the two Dragons that had saved him. He wasn't going to stand for being kept out of the loop any longer, not when it had nearly cost his two best friends their lives. He closed his eyes and eventually sleep overcame him, but the last thing he thought before falling asleep was the skill and grace the two Dragon possessed, the ease at which they had floored that creature. For the first time since coming back to Hogwarts Harry found himself feeling hopeful; if those two Dragon _were_ on his side, as he hoped they were, then it might just tip the scales (no pun intended) in their favour tremendously.

* * *

Dumbledore raised his wand to his temple, extracted a long silvery strand of memory and let it fall into the swirling contents of his Pensieve. He watched gravely as the meeting he had held with Mr Weasley and Miss Granger briefly flashed over the surface before disappearing into the wispy contents of the circular bowl. Dumbledore was more worried than he had been in a long time, it had happened sooner than he had expected; The Dark Master's servants had managed to successfully infiltrate the school, attacking Harry and kidnapping his friends. It had been hard enough to clear away the broken body parts of the ones that had attacked Harry in the corridors without Dolores finding out it, but luckily Minerva never asked too many questions when he needed her help to cover up something.

He felt angry and foolish about the entire situation; Ignitus had warned him that The Dark Master might try to attack the school directly to try to kidnap Harry, he just never expected him to put that plan into motion a day after Ignitus first contacted him, not giving Albus enough time to make sure Harry was properly protected. Had Ignitus' pupils not arrived in time, he shuddered to think what might have happened.

Dumbledore moved away from the Pensieve and walked towards his pet Phoenix, Fawkes. He stroked the swan-sized bird's beautiful red and gold plumage, Fawkes, who had been sleeping with his head under his wing, looked up at his master with his baleful black eyes.

"Was I wrong to distance myself from Harry this year?" He asked his beloved pet. "If I had been more open with him from the start would he have come to me for help instead of charging after the Grublins himself to save his friends?" Fawkes blinked benignly up at him. Albus knew he kept asking himself that question, but he needed an answer. For once the great Albus Dumbledore was completely unsure of a situation.

Another thing that bothered him was how the Grublins had slipped under his radar without being detected and he didn't like the conclusion that he had arrived at: they had been brought into the castle by someone on the inside, someone who was working for Voldemort and Malefor.

Ignitus had told him this possibility that Malefor might try to use someone already at Hogwarts, along with a little magic of his own, to smuggle his army into the castle; that way they could avoid detection.

At first Dumbledore thought that Voldemort may have put Umbridge under the Imperius Curse and that she was the one who had brought Malefor's forces into the castle. But it was highly unlikely since Ignitus had only contacted Dumbledore twenty four hours ago and Dolores had been in the castle all day yesterday, so Voldemort had no opportunities to Imperius her. Dumbledore furrowed his brow; if Voldemort _did_ have a spy at Hogwarts then that meant that he would have to move his plan forwards, he didn't like it, but time was against them. Moving away from Fawkes he sat down behind his desk, rested his chin on his fingers and closed his eyes. His mind wandered throughout the void until he found Ignitus' consciousness, after a brief moment Ignitus allowed their two minds to meet.

"_I heard what happened up at the school today Albus."_ Ignitus said his voice grave and sorrowful, _"Are Harry and his friends alright?"_

Albus sighed heavily, _"Yes, although it was extremely fortunate your pupils arrived when they did, you must be very proud of them."_

"I am, they are currently hiding in the Forbidden Forest, awaiting further instructions." He said with a small hint of pride in his aged voice, _"Do not worry about them, they can take care of themselves and will stay hidden well out of sight." _He added quickly.

Dumbledore chuckled quietly _"After explaining to me how they took down that Hero Orc, it doesn't surprise me."_ He said pleasantly.

"_I trust the reason we are talking is because you want to start the plan ahead of schedule?"_ Ignitus asked smartly.

Dumbledore nodded gravely _"I fear you were right, I believe that Voldemort has planted a spy here at Hogwarts. It is the only reason to explain how Malefor's forces could have penetrated Hogwarts so easily."_

"_I was going to contact you to tell you to move the plan ahead myself: we have received word that Malefor plans to arrive on earth tonight. We would have had to start now regardless of whether The Dark Army attacked the school or not."_ Ignitus explained with a fearful edge to his voice.

"_That is grave news my friend, when do you think you and the other Guardians could arrive here yourselves?"_ Dumbledore asked.

"_Any time at all, in fact we could depart for the school right now if you liked."_ Ignitus suggested.

"_Wait until it is morning here at the school, I will bring Harry and his friends down to the agreed meeting spot, then I'll let you know that you can arrive."_

"Do you think it wise to involve Harry's friends in this as well?" Ignitus asked nervously.

"_They have already seen the Hero Orc as well as the other Grublins, and Harry would never forgive me if I modified their memories."_ Dumbledore said sadly, _"Besides Harry and Spyro will need their friends now more than ever if they are to have any hope of saving both our worlds from the shadow of evil that has been cast over them."_

"_I agree with you wholeheartedly there." _Ignitus replied, just as sadly, _"Although I still do not approve of your keeping Harry in the dark about his destiny, I just hope that it does not prove detrimental in the great scheme of things."_ He added somewhat reproachfully.

"_We shall see my friend."_ Albus said as he felt the connection between their two minds fading.

"We shall see…"

* * *

Voldemort stood perfectly still in the large grounds of Malfoy Manor, staring towards the large iron-wrought gates that marked the boundary of the Malfoy's property. The night was deathly quiet, not even the crickets were chirping and there wasn't so much as the whisper of a breeze. The sky was cloudless, the inky black void of space was dotted with stars and the moon was pale and bright. It was a perfect night yet Voldemort remained on edge; he was tapping his finger idly against his yew wand which he held in his hand, ready to use at a moment's notice. Nagini lay curled at his feet and his Death Eaters stood in a large group behind him, some of them had their wands lit and were muttering quietly to themselves. Voldemort took no notice of them; he was concentrating for the moment The Dark Master said he would appear at the stroke of midnight tonight. He had ordered his Death Eaters to be there with him to greet his new partner and the small procession of his own army he said he would be bringing with him. Even now Voldemort was taking no chances; he hadn't gotten this far by taking foolish risks and although he had calculated that this _Dark Master _would be of great help to his cause he still didn't trust him not to try anything when he first appeared: another reason he had ordered his Death Eaters to gather.

Beside him Lucius Malfoy fidgeted in anxious anticipation; Voldemort could tell Lucius did not approve of this meeting and had made his opinion on the matter quite clear when Voldemort had explained this to his followers. Voldemort smiled beneath his hood, it pleased him to know that the news of another possible Dark Lord kept Lucius on his toes; Malfoy claimed that his loyalty to the Dark Lord knew no bounds, but he was also ambitious, and ambitious men would always try to drive a knife between the bones of their leader at the first sign of weakness. With the news that his master had paired up with someone who was possibly just as dangerous, it would be twice as hard for Lucius to plan any usurpation attempts. On his other side, Bellatrix Lestrange appeared unsure of how to act ever since she had heard the news of this partnership. Her loyalty to him was unshakable but she was so fanatic in her adoration towards him that it made her jealous to think that Voldemort favoured anyone else over her. While Voldemort considered himself about such simple emotions as envy, he also knew it could have its uses; it meant that Bella would work twice as hard to make sure she remained her beloved Dark Lord's favourite, and that in itself could also help in his eventual plan to take whatever power this Dark Master possessed for his very own.

He was distracted from his thoughts when he felt a tingle of magic in the air, his followers had felt it as well for they had stop whispering to each other and were now on high alert, some gripping their wands beneath the folds of their black robes.

Voldemort felt the magic tingle in the air again, stronger this time. Then the area in front of Voldemort seemed to twist and contort as though it was trying to turn itself inside out, finally the magic came again; only this time it took physical form and piled together in a swirling mass of electrical-like energy a few yards from where Voldemort and his group stood. From inside the Malfoy Manor, Voldemort held the clock strike twelve. He smiled. This was it, The Dark Master was arriving. The swirling electrical energy expanded, spreading further and further until a gigantic portal of darkness had ripped itself through the fabric that connected the Earth and the Dragon Kingdom. A squadron of the small spear wielding creatures made their way through the portal in pairs; they broke off and stood at opposite ends of the portal facing each other in a line, they stood stock still and rigid: like soldiers. The silhouette of another figure appeared in the portal, several of the Death Eaters let out audible gasps of shock and outrage, and others actually whipped out their wands as Igor Karkaroff stepped out of the portal. He dark purple velvet robes with a gold lining, a large, ornate red crystal hung from around his neck. He was twisting his goatee as he approached Voldemort and stopped a couple of feet away from him. If Voldemort was taken aback by the unexpected appearance of the traitor who had been too cowardly to return to his side when he was reborn he didn't show it. Karkaroff meanwhile, looked perfectly relaxed in Voldemort's presence, a smile playing around his lips.

"I present to you, my lord," He said in his usual unctuous manner as he gave a small bow to Voldemort before turning to the portal and displaying with his outstretched hand, "The Dark Master, Malefor."

A dark shape appeared in the portal, it was gigantic in size. The Death Eaters watched with baited breath as it came closer and closer until it slowly stepped out of the portal. First a head the size of a small car followed by a long neck, a pair of wings the size of the ship's sails, and finally a powerful tail. It rose to a height even taller than that of the manor house, so huge that its shadow engulfed all the Death Eaters present; Lucius stumbled backwards in horror, Bellatrix raised a hand to her mouth in awe, Voldemort stared up into a pair of pitiless yellow eyes with vertical slits for pupils and did nothing but smile.


	5. The Legends Meet

_**Chapter Five:**_** The Legends Meet**

* * *

The next morning, after some last minute checks, Madame Pomfrey declared Harry in perfect health once again and discharged him from the Hospital Wing.

Harry set off down the corridor at a brisk pace, his destination was the Headmaster's Office; he was determined to get answers from Dumbledore one way or another, he wasn't going to stand for being kept in the dark any longer.

He rounded the corner, only to hear an all too familiar noise sound out behind him,

"_Hem hem."_

The sickeningly sweet, false cough of Dolores Umbridge sent shivers running down Harry's spine. Not wanting another week's worth of detentions, Harry forced himself to turn around and said in a voice he hoped sounded calm and polite,

"_Yes_, Professor Umbridge?"

She was dressed in her usual pink cardigan, with her mousy brown curly hair, but it did nothing to improve her toad like appearance, with her bulging eyes and wide mouth, that was stretched into smile.

"I notice that you have been to the Hospital Wing Mr Potter, although for what I do not know, and the Headmaster is reluctant to tell me so." She said in her high pitched, girly voice, her steely eyes boring into Harry's, who tried desperately not to look guilty.

"Perhaps you would be so kind as to tell me why?"

Harry's heart was hammering, she clearly didn't know exactly what had transpired in the Forest, but he couldn't afford to let her know either; not only would she not believe him, but she would just take it as further proof that he was lying or unhinged and use it to further the Ministry's smear campaign against him and Dumbledore.

"I- well I was…."

"Yes? Go on." She pressed.

But before Harry could think of a convincing enough lie, another voice sounded out behind him, it belonged to someone who could only make Harry's current situation ten times worse.

"There you are Potter."

It was Severus Snape, Harry's least favourite teacher. He strode up to Harry and Umbridge, his black robes billowing behind him; making him look like an overgrown bat. His greasy black hair hung in curtains around his sallow skin. He came to a halt in front of them, staring down his hooked noise at Harry with undisguised dislike. Harry stared defiantly back in equal dislike, the mutual dislike between the two had possibly increased over the year ever since the Occlumency lessons Dumbledore had ordered Snape to give him to help shield his mind against Voldemort. Snape had immensely enjoyed making Harry relive his worst memories, and Harry's performance had suffered badly as a result.

"We need to discuss your remedial potions lesson Potter." Snape said coldly, "After your last abysmal lesson I feel that even more extra practise is needed if you are to have any hope of at least scrapping '_Acceptable'_ in your Potions O.W.L."

Harry gritted his teeth in annoyance; _remedial potions_ were the excuse Harry had to give anyone who asked why he was having extra lessons with Snape.

"We'll start right away, follow me Potte-"

"Hem, hem."

In his anger at seeing Snape he had completely forgotten about Umbridge.

"Please forgive me Professor Snape, but I was just about to question Potter on why he was in the Hospital Wing, the Headmaster has failed to provide a satisfactory explanation, so I thought I'd get the truth from the horse's mouth." She said in her poisoned honeyed tones.

Snape stared at Umbridge in cold indifference, "Well it does not surprise me that Potter has been to the Hospital Wing, given the number of misdemeanours he has gotten up to during his five years here, but I would be extremely surprised to get any version of the truth out of him at all."

Harry had to bite his tongue to stop himself from snarling an insult at Snape; he wouldn't give him an excuse to take fifty points from Gryffindor.

"But I'm sure whatever reason for his being there can wait for an hour, I would like to get these extra classes over and done with as soon as possible, I have no wish to be in the boy's presence for longer than is necessary as I'm sure you'll agree?" He finished with a slight smirk in Harry's direction.

Umbridge's smile broadened even further, "Professor Snape, as Hogwarts High Inquisitor, I'm sure you'll understand that it is in my best interests to make sure that all students are performing to the best of their ability, the Minister wishes to make sure that the students are kept safe and-"

"I'm sure that is why you'll understand why I need to take Potter immediately." Snape said smoothly, cutting across her, "As High Inquisitor, it is in your best interests to address the _falling standards_ at Hogwarts, which I'm sure includes making sure all student's, even the hopeless ones, pass their O.W.L's as best as they can, we wouldn't want the Minister thinking you weren't doing your job would we?"

Despite the obvious jibe directed at him, Harry was mildly impressed at how Snape could be unfailingly polite and yet scathingly condescending at the same time.

Umbridge was still smiling, but harry could see a muscle clenched in her jaw, she was clearly not happy about letting her prey escape.

"Very well Professor Snape, but of course, you will send him my way once you've finished with him?" She asked in her soft poisonously sweet voice that she used whenever she was furious.

"Certainly," Snape replied with a slight bow, "Come Potter." He said as he turned and swept away.

Harry wasn't sure which was worse: being given the third degree by Umbridge or having extra Occlumency lessons with Snape, he thought as he walked alongside the Potions Master.

* * *

But as they reached the Grand Staircase, Snape continued on up the stairs instead of down them towards his office in the dungeons.

"I thought you said you were taking me for extra Occlumency lessons?" Harry asked in suspicion.

"I believed I asked you to address me as 'sir' or 'professor' at all times?" Snape asked without looking at Harry.

"Where are we going then _sir_?" Harry asked through clenched teeth, hoping Snape would give him an answer.

"The Headmaster's Office." Snape replied coldly.

"Why there?" Harry asked, caught off guard by this.

"Because the Headmaster asked me to bring you there." Snape replied as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Harry said nothing more as they continued up the stairs, if Dumbledore had sent Snape to collect him as soon as he was discharged from the Hospital Wing; it had to have been about the incident in the Forest. Although Harry felt gratified that Dumbledore was finally going to give him some straight answers, it still irked him that Dumbledore hadn't thought it important to come and collect Harry himself or sent Professor McGonagall to fetch him instead of Snape.

At last they reached the stone gargoyle that led up to the Headmaster's Office.

"Fizzing Whizzbee", Snape said to the gargoyle, it was obviously the password for the gargoyle jumped aside, the wall behind split open, and the ascended the moving stone staircase. They reached the polished door with the griffon knocker. Snape knocked twice, a voice inside said, "Enter", and Snape strode inside, Harry following closely on his heels.

Dumbledore was sitting in the throne-like chair behind his desk; his fingers were steepled over his mouth as he gazed at Snape. On the other side of his desk sat Ron and Hermione.

"Harry, oh Harry!" Hermione looked like she wanted to rush up and hug him, but she restrained herself. Ron appeared to have been holding his breath, but he now let out a sigh of relief upon seeing Harry.

Dumbledore smiled slightly at them before turning back to Snape, "Thank you Severus, I can handle it from here."

Snape gave a curt nod, before giving Harry a sour look and marching out of the room.

Harry looked up at Dumbledore, and was startled to see that the Headmaster was looking him in the eye again.

"Sit down please Harry." Dumbledore said, gesturing to the empty third chair in front of his desk in-between Ron and Hermione.

Harry hesitated before taking a seat, as soon as he did; Hermione and Ron pelted him with questions and statements.

"Are you alright mate, you're not hurt?"

"When we woke up and say you unconscious we feared the worst!"

"Hagrid came to and we took you back up the castle straight away."

"Have you ever seen anything like those creatures before Harry?"

"Do you really think You-Know-Who sent them?"

"Guys, GUYS! Please, one thing at a time!" Harry nearly shouted, feeling embarrassed but gratified at how much they cared for him.

"Calm yourselves please Mr Weasley, Miss Granger." Dumbledore said soothingly, before turning to look at Harry.

"Ron and Hermione have told me everything about what transpired in the Forest yesterday Harry."

"And you believed them?" Harry asked in surprise.

"As soon as Hagrid carried you back up to castle and your friends showed me the remains of those creatures I knew that my worst fear had been confirmed, and for that I am truly sorry Harry." Dumbledore finished gravely.

Harry raised his eyebrow in confusion, "What for, if I'd only gone and got you in the first place, then Ron and Hermione wouldn't have gotten hurt." A fresh wave of guilt washed over Harry as he remembered how his friends had been knocked unconscious by the huge creature, "Guys I'm so sorry, I should never have just run after you by myself, I should have gotten help!" He stated imploringly, "My selfishness nearly got both of you killed and if that happened I could never forgive myse-"

"Harry, mate it's alright!" Ron said holding his hands up to slow Harry down.

"Ron's right Harry, we would've done the same for you." Hermione added.

"And in case you forgot, you weren't alone; Hagrid and Fang were with you, if they weren't then you would've been creamed by those guys." Ron said with his usual impish grin.

A great weight in Harry's chest was lifted by his friend's statements of loyalty.

"Guys…" Harry could only breathe softly.

"You are fortunate to have such dear friends Harry." Dumbledore said, smiling serenely, but then he suddenly became business-like,

"Ron and Hermione have filled me in on most of what transpired Harry, but I need to know what happened after they had been knocked unconscious by the large creature." He said, staring at Harry intensely with his bright blue eyes.

Harry eyed Dumbledore cautiously, he wasn't sure how much Dumbledore knew, but whatever he did know he made sure he was going to spill, it was time to make good in his promise to himself about getting the information he needed.

"One condition, you tell us everything you know about those creatures and why they attacked us." He said firmly.

Ron and Hermione exchanged a look of shock, but Dumbledore seemed to sag in his chair, suddenly looking like the old man he was but Harry had never thought of him as.

"I apologize to you once again Harry. It was my not giving you access to necessary information which resulted in you and your friends being attacked, once you have told me all you know, then I promise I will tell you all that I know." He replied earnestly.

Harry didn't know what to say to this; he had not thought it would be that easy to get information out of the Headmaster, so he nodded instead.

Dumbledore smiled, before gesturing at Harry to begin.

Harry took a deep breath and launched into speech, he told him about how the monster had grabbed him, told him it would bring him back to its master in pieces if that was what it had to do, how the pair of young Dragons had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Once or twice Ron and Hermione showed signs of wanting to interrupt, but Dumbledore would always raise his hand to silence them. Harry told them how the Dragons had fought with the monster and killed it, and how he was sure the purple one had spoken to him before he blacked out.

"And that's pretty much it, I woke up in the Hospital Wing and Madame Pomfrey discharged me just this morning." Harry finished, waiting for Dumbledore to respond.

"That was incredible Harry! Two Dragons appeared and saved you!?" Ron gasped in wonder and amazement.

Hermione clearly wasn't so sure about Harry's story, he could see the doubt written all over her face,

"Are you sure it was two _Dragons_ that saved you Harry?" She asked, clearly trying not to sound sceptical, but failing miserably.

Harry rolled his eyes, "You don't believe me do you?"

"I'm just saying that its highly illogical that two Dragons, much less two _talking_ Dragons just _happened_ to be flying over Hogwarts at the time you were being attacked by that monster. There are supposed to be spells and enchantments around Hogwarts to keep dangerous creatures like Dragons out." She replied.

"I thought the same thing Hermione, but it still doesn't change the fact that I heard one of them speak to me." Harry replied stubbornly.

"You're sure the fight with that beast couldn't have hurt you head in some way, that you just _imagined _the Dragon talking to you?" Hermione asked with a hopeful edge to her voice.

Harry understood why Hermione was worried about things such as intelligent, talking Dragons existing; if Voldemort got a hold of them for his side, them it would make winning the upcoming war all the more difficult.

"If Harry says he saw them then he saw them Hermione." Ron put in annoyed, "You should have a little more faith, personally I think it's awesome." He finished, crossing his arms over his chest looking smug.

Before Hermione could retort Dumbledore spoke up.

"What you saw wasn't a hallucination Harry."

All three students turned their heads to face Dumbledore who was looking more serious than Harry had ever seen him before.

"The monsters that attacked you are called Grublins. They are creatures created from the Earth itself using dark magic. They come in three forms." Dumbledore raised his wand and waved it over his desk, an illusion of the small spear wielding creatures appeared there, "The standard Grublins that attacked you in the corridor." Dumbledore explained as he waved his wand again, this time a different kind of Grublin appeared, one that Harry had not seen that day. It was distinctly more insect-like in appearance than the others; with insectoid wings on its back and extra insect-like legs sprouting out of the side of its body. "And finally; Hero Grublins." With one more wave of his wand another Grublin appeared, Harry recognised it as the sword wielding one he had fought and that had committed suicide after he tried to question it.

"The other group of reptilian creatures that attacked you are known as Orcs. They also come in three kinds." This time a reptilian monster took the place of the Hero Grublin, it resembled the monsters with the crossbows but this one was significantly bulkier and held a large double bladed axe. "These ones are called Axe Orcs" Dumbledore said.

"Whoa, subtle." Ron sniggered as he examined the monster's huge axe.

"Sssh!" Hermione hissed at him.

A different monster took the place of the Axe Orc and Harry saw that this one was one of the thin, lithe crossbow wielding ones that had kidnapped Ron and Hermione.

"Archer Orcs." Dumbledore explained, before conjuring up the final monster that the three friends recognised all too well.

"And lastly: Hero Orcs." Dumbledore finished gravely, as the snarling form of the hulking, horned, mace wielding monster that had nearly killed The Trio in the Forest appeared before them.

"But where do them come from Professor? I've never seen or heard of anything like them before." Hermione immediately asked, having examined each of the creatures and listened to their names with rapt attention.

"You said they were created by dark magic, is Voldemort behind them?" Harry asked in earnest, ignoring Ron's wince at the name.

"Yes and no Harry." Dumbledore replied. "Voldemort did send them, but he did not create them; they are not of this world."

Silence hung in the air as the three friends digested this revelation, after a while, Hermione broke the silence,

"But how can that be?" She whispered.

Dumbledore stood up, the suddenness of his movement made the three start.

"Perhaps you will understand better if I show you myself." He said with a smile, but there was a strange, if slightly mischievous look in the Headmaster's eye that told Harry the old man that stood before them was going to thoroughly enjoy himself with whatever it was he was about to show them.

A tongue of flame burst into life before Dumbledore, making Harry, Ron and Hermione yelp in shock. The flames cleared and a single vibrant red and gold feather hung before Dumbledore which he promptly caught.

"Fawkes's warning." Dumbledore said his brow furrowed in concentration.

"Severus!" He called loudly towards the door, which flung open, revealing Snape standing behind it; he had clearly been waiting outside the whole time.

"Professor Umbridge knows Harry is up here with me, she'll likely be coming this way, head her off, tell her any story."

With a swish of his cape, Snape swept down the stairs.

There was still one more question Harry needed to ask Dumbledore, "Sir, why did you send Snape to collect me instead of Professor McGonagall?"

"_Professor_ Snape." Dumbledore corrected, "I knew that Professor Umbridge would want to question you as soon as you got out of the Hospital Wing, so I had Severus collect you instead of Minerva. Dolores knows how loyal she is to me, so that is why I sent Severus in order to avoid raising any more suspicion than was necessary." He added as he swept towards the door.

"We do not have much time; you three must accompany me to the Forbidden Forest immediately." He said, drawing his wand once again.

Harry was taken aback by how Dumbledore expected Ron and Hermione to come along.

"Are you sure Professor?" He asked, looking around at Ron and Hermione uncertainly.

"Normally I would try to keep as many people outside of this as possible, but we have no choice in this particular situation." Dumbledore replied.

"We're coming whether you liked it or not Harry." Ron grinned as he slung his arm over his friend's shoulders.

"We'll go wherever you go Harry." Hermione added, striding confidently up to Harry's side.

Harry tried hard to stop himself blushing.

"Thanks guys." Was all he could muster.

"Come we must hurry." Dumbledore said urgently

"Should I get my Invisibility Cloak Professor?" Harry asked.

"There will be no time to get it Harry, but I can use Disillusionment Charms on you instead, they will work quite adequately." The Headmaster assured.

* * *

It was lunch time in the castle, with students from the four houses filing into the Great Hall, chatting animatedly to each other about homework, the next Hogsmead trip, Quidditch and whatnot, they were so engrossed in themselves and their food that no one noticed the huge double doors that lead to the grounds open seemingly of their own accord and close silently again.

It was a beautiful sunny day just like the last, but those that had stayed outside to enjoy the sunshine paid no attention to the four human shaped shadows that streaked across the lawn towards the Forbidden Forest and disappeared into the shade.

They had journeyed quite a while into the Forest before Dumbledore felt it was safe to remove the Disillusionment Charms.

"That was a weird experience." Ron said mildly, as he examined his body to make sure it had all reappeared.

"I found it fascinating; I can't wait to learn that spell myself." Hermione put in ask she dusted herself off.

"Now why would you want to do that Hermione?" Ron asked with a sly grin.

"Shut up Ronald." Hermione snapped.

Harry ignored them; instead he walked up to Dumbledore and looked around. He had never been in this part of the Forest before; they were standing in the middle of what looked like some ancient sort of ruins. It was clearly once a circular building, but now all that remained was the wall circular wall that had been nearly completely demolished, a few pillars here and there, a partially collapsed archway that served as the entrance, and ivy strewn remains of what looked like four statues, standing in a semi-circle at the end wall.

"What is this place Professor?"

"This is all that remains of a rotunda built in honour the four founders." Dumbledore said sadly, "After Salazar Slytherin left the school; the other four founders were too disheartened to keep it looking spick and span. Eventually it was forgotten about completely over the years and fell into disrepair. It was recently discovered some one hundred ago, but was left in its ruined state as a last remaining monument to the founders."

Harry felt a twinge of sadness of his own, it seemed such a shame that such a place built in honour to the four greatest witches and wizards of the age could have come to this, and all because Slytherin couldn't accept Muggleborns.

"Why did you bring us hear Professor?"

"To meet the one who will help you save both our world and his own." Dumbledore said, turning to Harry, looking completely serious.

Harry felt mystified, "What do you mean profess-"

But Harry had no time to ask that question, for out of the corner of his eye he saw six shapes emerging out of the darkness behind the rotunda, the were huge in size, so tall that four of them were almost the same size as the trees. Harry gripped the handle of his wand underneath his robes; his heart beating madly, even Ron and Hermione stopped their bickering to gape up the gigantic silhouettes that were marching towards them. Dumbledore however seemed perfectly calm and relaxed a tiny smile on his face as he bounced back and forth on the balls of his feet, twiddling his thumbs underneath his beard.

Harry strained his eyes to try and make out the shapes and his breathe caught in the throat as he found himself looking at the two Dragons that had saved him from the Hero Orc yesterday. The purple one strode towards them confidently, but the black female held back somewhat as though afraid to approach. But behind them walked an even more magnificent and terrifying sight: four full grown Dragons as large as the Hungarian Horntail Harry had faced in his fourth year loomed out of the Forest gloom.

One was a vibrant red, with fiery oranges and sun coloured yellows dominating his iron hard scales, another was a vibrant yellow, with pale blue curved spikes, the third was an icy blue, with pointed purple horn spikes that nearly resembled icicles, and finally there was an enormous green one, with muscles the size of boulders bulging in its arms and legs, and brown curved ram-like horns on the side of its head. They all radiated the power and strength of warriors, but with the grace and wisdom of philosophers, nothing on Earth was their equal, and they were the kings over all that was proud.

They stood staring down at the assembled party with smiles on their faces, but they did not come any further than the rotunda wall, but the smaller purple and black Dragons clambered over it easily and continued on towards Harry and Dumbledore.

Harry wasn't sure what to say or do in response to these approaching colossi, for although they were half a small as the four adults, they still towered over Harry and Dumbledore.

Harry shot a glance a Dumbledore for advice on what to do; the Headmaster was smiling down at Harry.

"I think it would be polite to say hello to the ones that saved your life Harry?"

Harry turned back to face the Dragons who had now reached him and were staring down at him, the purple one had a content smile on his face, with the black female's face remained impassive, but not aggressive. Harry cleared his throat, and addressed them.

"Hi." He said simply, hoping he didn't sound as nervous as he really was.

The purple one opened its mouth and responded.

"Hi." He replied, his voice was deep and soft, but still carried with it the ring of youth and sounded surprisingly musical; completely unlike the growl Harry had expected.

The female Dragon also responded,

"Hello." Her voice was lighter and softer than the male's, so much so that Harry had to strain his ears to hear her; despite her fearsome appearance, she was clearly shy. Harry almost laughed at the thought: _a shy Dragon_.

Harry quickly remembered Dumbledore's advice,

"I never got a chance to thank you for saving my life yesterday." He said, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

"Don't mention it." The purple one said with a wink.

"From what your Headmaster Dumbledore has told us, you would have done the same for us Harry." The black one added, seeming more confident in herself now that she had seen Harry was as nervous as she was.

"Don't mention it." Harry replied mirroring the purple Dragon's statement, he glanced at the purple Dragon who just grinned, and Harry grinned back in spite of himself; here he was having a conversation with two Dragons, the situation was so laughably absurd, and yet here it was happening right before his very eyes.

"We haven't been formally introduced yet have we Harry?" The purple one asked.

"No we haven't. I, err, sort of….passed out before we could get to that part….didn't I?" Harry said embarrassed.

The purple one gave a small laugh and even the black one allowed a giggle to bubble out of herself.

"I'm Spyro." The purple one said proudly.

"I'm Cynder." The black one added.

There was a loud thump behind Harry, and everyone looked around to see what had happened. In the shock of the moment Harry had completely forgotten that Ron and Hermione were also there, and what Harry saw made a laugh burst out of him as well.

Ron had fainted.

* * *

I hope that I got The trio's reactions to seeing Spyro and Cynder, and hearing about their enemies spot on. Next chapter _"Destiny Revealed"_


	6. Destiny Revealed

_**Chapter Six:**_** Destiny Revealed**

* * *

After Dumbledore had used _Rennervate_ to wake Ron up, he set about introducing the four adult Dragons.

"This is Terrador, Dragon Guardian of Earth." He explained as the green, ram horned Dragon stepped forward.

"It is an honour to meet you Harry Potter." He said, his voice deep and powerful, "From what Albus has told me you possess the heart of a fine warrior, keep honing your skills and one day you may become as proud and graceful as Spyro." He said, as he looked towards Spyro proudly.

If Dragons could blush Harry was sure Spyro would be bright red, in fact Harry couldn't help flushing himself a little at the Terrador's words.

Next the icy blue coloured one stepped forward for Dumbledore to introduce.

"Cyril, Dragon Guardian of Ice."

Cyril stared down his pointed snout at Harry, his expression reminded Harry of Snape when he was about to give a waspish remark about his latest potion.

"I must admit I wish expecting a bit more, from our great, human hero, but if Spyro proved himself then I guess this one can too." He said in a haughty, prideful voice, that reminded Harry so much of Snape's. But unlike Snape's there was no malice behind it, Cyril just spoke his mind. Harry looked at Spyro for confirmation and the purple Dragon gave a wan smile,

"Don't mind Cyril; he's like this with everyone." He said under his breathe.

Cyril had barely stood aside when the bright yellow Dragon came shooting forwards,

"Volteer, Dragon Guardian of Electricity." Dumbledore said in a rush for no sooner had the words left the headmaster's voice when Volteer started rambling in an ecstatic voice,

"Quite stupendous, incredible, miraculous! Never in my time would I think I'd get a chance to visit the human world. Of course there were unsubstantiated rumours that the human world and the Dragon world would meet once again, but most considered it hearsay, gossip, legend. It's hard to believe, difficult to fathom, amazing to comprehend!"

Harry recoiled slightly at Volteer's rapid speech and quick fire facts. Beside him he saw Ron roll his eyes and mutter, "Great, another Hermione." Earning him a sharp slap on the back of the head from the girl in question, who by contrast seemed delighted to have found a kindred spirit.

"Perhaps we might introduce the final Guardian Volteer?" Dumbledore asked pleasantly.

"Who, what, where, when, why, what is it?" Volteer asked, spinning his head around to look at Dumbledore who gestured at the red and orange Dragon who had yet to step forwards, which seemed to shake Volteer out of his stupor.

"Oh, of course!" Volteer cried as he stepped aside to allow the final Dragon to approach.

"Ignitus, leader of the Dragon Guardians and master of fire."

Harry sensed ancient power and wisdom radiating from this Dragon. It reminded him of Dumbledore, but there was a certain kind, almost fatherly affection that emanated from him as he smiled down at Harry that reminded him of his godfather Sirius Black.

"Well met young Harry." He said softly.

Harry couldn't think of what to say in response, so head inclined his head in agreement, almost bowing.

Dumbledore clapped his hands together in a joyful gesture, "Now that those introductions have been taken care of, perhaps we should introduce Harry's friends that have been dragged into this endeavour." He said as he looked at Ron and Hermione.

The two looked at each other in surprise for a moment, both looked slightly pale and clammy, and Ron was quick to push Hermione forwards first.

"Well, err….hi…..my name is Hermione Granger." She stuttered as the Dragons fixed their gaze on her. Dumbledore smiled at her encouragingly.

"Well, I've….been Harry's friend ever since our first year at Hogwarts….ever since he and Ron saved me from a Mountain Troll…."

"A Troll you say? How amazing, magnificent, incredible! We have plenty of Trolls back in the Dragon Kingdom, and it took the combined and outstanding efforts of both Spyro and Cynder to take one down!" Volteer cut across.

"Volteer, please calm that incessantly wagging tongue of yours and give the dear lady and chance to speak." Cyril said in exasperation, causing Spyro and Cynder to giggle to themselves.

"Yes well, I've been Harry's good friend ever since." She said, slowly gaining confidence thanks to Volteer's compliment and Cyril allowing her a chance to speak.

"At least Harry knows I exist, unlike Ronald Weasley over there." She said, pointedly jerking her head in Ron's direction, which was enough to give Ron his tongue back,

"Oh you exist alright Hermione, _you exist_." He snarked back, "I could tell these guys plenty more about you!" he said before adopted a high pitched girly version of Hermione's voice,

"Oh my goodness, I'm so tired, I've done nothing but stick my nose in a book all day long. I'll annoy Ron about the quality of his homework because I have nothing better to do!"

Harry thought Hermione was going to explode at Ron in indignation, but he was surprised to see that she was going to give as good as she got, for she said, "Oh really Ron? Well too can play at that game!" before adopting a dumbed down version of Ron's voice.

"I can't believe I'm not fat enough Hermione, I can still fit through the dormitory door! Now look over my homework!"

Harry tried not to bust a gut at her surprisingly accurate interpretation of Ron, and even Spyro and Cynder were trying hard not to crack up. Ron's ears turned a bright shade of red, but Hermione wasn't done yet, "Oh hi Harry, you wanna do something stupid today? Hopefully something that gets me hurt."

At this Ron had enough and marched right up to Hermione.

"Alright Hermione, let's stop with all the theatrics. Or I might be forced to tell a little secret I know about you." Ron said as he leaned towards Hermione, smirking.

"What secret Ron?" Hermione asked disbelievingly.

"Oh, come now Hermione you really don't know?" Ron asked as he turned, crossed his hands behind his back and looked over his shoulder at Hermione in a smug fashion.

"Know what _Ronald_?" She asked her voice soft and dangerous.

"Hermione Granger, a natural brunette!?" Ron said in his mock Hermione voice, clutching at his cheeks.

Hermione shrieked in fury and launched herself at Ron, flooring him, and beginning to bash his head repeatedly.

"You stupid insensitive dummy! HOW DARE YOU!?

"C'mon Hermione gimme a break!" Ron cried as he tried to shield himself from her wrath.

"You'll be sorry Ronald Weasley, you'll be sorry! I'll give you a break!" Hermione raged, showing the red-head no mercy.

At this Spyro and Cynder couldn't contain themselves any longer and burst out into peals of laughter, Harry couldn't help beaming himself; Dumbledore watched the exchange with a cheery expression and the Dragon Guardians looked quite perplexed at the scene unfolding before them.

"Ignore them; they're like this all the time." Harry explained to them.

"Cyril rolled his eyes, "Humans."

* * *

After Hermione had calmed down, though continued to eye Ron like a wrathful eagle, Dumbledore addressed the Dragon Guardians once again.

"Well now that you know more or less everything you need to know about Harry's friends," Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eye, causing Ron to smile weakly and Hermione to tut, "I expect you all want to know exactly how this whole situation came about?"

"Of course, were do all of you come from, and why have we never seen talking Dragon's before?" Hermione immediately asked.

Ignitus stepped forward to explain, "We come from an alternate reality, from a planet much like Earth, although once a long time ago our ancestors discovered the existence of other realities that coexisted alongside our own and travelled to them to learn about their inhabitants."

"That is how Dragons came into this world." Terrador added, "Some of the ancestors stayed in these worlds, although through the ages; because they had been cut off from the magic of our own world, each generation slowly lost more of their intelligence and magical power until they degraded into the beasts that now roam your world." He said sadly, "A mighty generation, some of them our proudest warriors….lost forever."

Harry felt a rush of sympathy for the Dragons he had encountered in his lifetime; to think that they were once as mighty as the ones that stood before him only to be reduced to the basest animal instinct was too cruel. Ignitus picked up were Terrador had left off.

"But there was one breed of Dragon that was born after the first ten generations of our race had passed, a Dragon unlike any the other four elemental races had ever seen before; the Purple Dragon."

Harry looked at Spyro, "You?" He asked in surprise.

Spyro shook his head gravely.

"The first Purple Dragon's name was Malefor; he quickly mastered all four elements: Fire, Ice, Electricity and Earth, even though none of them were his Element. It was a feat no one had ever anticipated, since Dragons can only learn the Element they are born of." Ignitus added.

"So what happened then?" Ron asked.

Ignitus's face darkened, "The Elders should have been more cautious of Malefor's strength instead of wilfully sharing the deepest secrets of their Elemental knowledge with him, but they were too carried away to see that his power was unlimited….it knew no bounds….he consumed…..everything…." Ignitus closed his eyes and bowed his head; he seemed unable to go on. But he quickly continued, "When he refused to stop the growth of his power he was cast into exile and from his new fortress in the mountains he built an army of our most sworn enemies; the Apes, and taught them how to artificially harness the power of the Elements through the power of Spirit Gems; the life-force of all Dragons."

"A blasphemous deed, to pass on our most sacred arts to those monsters was unforgiveable!" Cyril nearly cried.

Harry didn't like how this story was playing out, it was sounding just like Voldemort all over again: a model student who had climbed so high only to fall to the deepest low. One glance at Ron and Hermione told him they were thinking the same thing.

"What happened to this Malefor?" Hermione almost whispered, having drunk in everything Ignitus said.

"He was eventually defeated by the combined powers of the Dragon Guardians, his soul was torn from his body and imprisoned inside an airlock realm called Convexity, until it was released when Cynder collected our powers and used them to break the seal on his prison." Terrador answered.

"Wait a minute, _she_ did that?!" Ron asked, pointing at Cynder in confusion.

"I believe this is where you come in Spyro and Cynder." Dumbledore said kindly, beckoning them forwards.

The two Dragons stepped forward, although Harry noticed that Cynder held back slightly, with her head turned away as if in shame. Spyro glanced at her in concern before licking his lips nervously and launching into speech.

"After another ten generations had passed, I was born." Spyro began to explain, "A prophecy was made shortly before my birth stating that a new Purple Dragon would be born who would direct the fate of that era, only Malefor heard the prophecy as well and sent the remainder of his forces to the Dragon Temple were my egg was being kept, with orders to destroy it to prevent the prophecy coming true. But Ignitus got wind of the attack and placed my egg in a stream, letting it float downriver to safety."

Cynder then spoke up, but she appeared reluctant to tell her part, "The Ape King, Gaul, who led the attack, had all the eggs at the temple except mine to be destroyed, Malefor knew that only a Dragon born in the Year of the Dragon could open the portal that served as his prison." She said, looking disgusted with herself.

Hermione clasped her hands over her mouth and Ron turned green with revulsion, Harry couldn't blame them, the fact that this Malefor had ordered the genocide of an entire brood of helpless, un-hatched infants made him sick to his stomach. Malefor was sounded more and more like Voldemort the more he heard about him, and the cries of his mother echoed through his head, _'Not Harry, please not Harry!... I'll do anything….Have mercy!'_

Harry was so lost in his thoughts that he almost didn't hear Cynder telling the rest of the story.

* * *

He listened to how Gaul had trained her to be a warrior from birth, how her growth had been accelerated and her mind corrupted by Malefor's dark magic, how Spyro had been raised by a family of Dragonflies who had discovered his egg and raised him as their own, with Spyro believing he was one of them. Until Malefor's Ape forces had attacked his swamp home and threatened the life of his Dragonfly brother Sparx, where Spyro discovered he could breathe fire, learned the truth from his foster parents and set out on a journey of self-discovery. How he had met the exiled Ignitus, learned of his destiny and helped him battle Cynder to free the other trapped Guardians. How even though Cynder succeeded in freeing Malefor's soul, Spyro unlocked the true powers of the Purple Dragon and purged her of his influence, restoring her to her true age and size.

He listened to how Cynder had felt guilty about the role she had played while she was Malefor's puppet and exiled herself, with Spyro going after her, learning the truth about Malefor from an ancient Dragon known only as The Chronicler, how he discovered Gaul's plot to bring Malefor back to flesh and blood during The Night of Eternal Darkness, and headed to The Well of Souls to stop him, how he had been possessed by Malefor, forcing him to kill Gaul and causing the mountain to collapse.

"But then thanks to the art of Dragon Time, taught to me by the Chronicler, I was able to freeze myself, Cynder and Sparx in a Time Crystal so that we could survive the fortress's collapse. But we would be trapped inside it for three years before an ally would come to free us, during which time Malefor had nearly succeeding in conquering our world." Spyro finished.

Harry, Ron and Hermione had lapsed into a stunned silence, trying to comprehend the enormity of what they had been told. Harry in particular felt both a surge of wonder and a surge of shame; Spyro was a true legend, a real hero. Hearing all that Spyro had done made everything Harry had done in his life so far pale in comparison; Spyro was a real warrior who had accomplished these great feats through his own skill rather than sheer luck or outside help like Harry. He felt unworthy to stand in this mighty Dragon's presence, _"He should be the one leading Dumbledore's Army, not me." _He thought to himself sickeningly.

"But why are you here on Earth, shouldn't you be in your own world fighting this Malefor guy?" Ron asked Spyro.

It was Ignitus who answered, "Malefor has been aware of the events that have been taking place on Earth, one of the few things his soul could do while locked in Convexity was to observe other worlds were our ancestors had called home. He believes he has found a kindred spirit in Voldemort and wants to use him to help him completely conquer world."

"But what could Voldemort, stop whimpering Ron! Gain from an alliance with Malefor?" Hermione asked.

"That we are not entirely certain of young lady." Cyril put in, "But whatever kind of help Malefor has offered this Voldemort villain it will certainly be detrimental to your world."

"That is why Ignitus enlisted the help of the intelligent, whimsical, wonderful Albus Dumbledore." Volteer interjected, "As soon as we discovered Malefor was planning to recruit from the human world he knew we had to do the same if we were to have any hope, chance or sliver of winning the war."

"But why would You-Know-Who be a threat to you?" Ron asked, scratching his head in confusion, "I mean, come on, you're Dragons! Surely you could take on a few puny wizards?!"

"Do not measure battle ability or spirit based on size young Ron." Terrador said sternly.

"I have to agree with Terrador Ron, if any wizard could be a threat to the Dragon's, Voldemort could." Hermione said darkly.

Just then Harry remembered something "Was the attack by the Grublins to do with Malefor? It's just that I heard a Hero Grublin say it worked for _'The Dark Master'_"

"The Dark Master is the title other's gave Malefor when they became too afraid to speak his real name Harry." Spyro answered.

It sent a shiver down Harry's spine to once again be reminded of the striking similarities between Voldemort and Malefor.

"We believe Malefor did send those Grublins after you Harry." Dumbledore said gravely, "Since they were under orders to capture you not kill you, it is highly likely Malefor wanted to cement his partnership with Voldemort by delivering you to him."

"That's what I wanted to ask before professor, how exactly did the Grublins and Orcs get into Hogwarts anyway?" Hermione asked, "Hogwarts is protected by spells and enchantments to keep things like them out." There was no mistaking the fear in her voice.

Dumbledore's face grew dark at this, something Harry had never seen before, he exchanged a brief glance at Ignitus who nodded slowly, looking just as grave.

"We fear that Voldemort may have a spy here at Hogwarts who invited the Grublins in, also if they had access to Malefor's magic, then those too combined elements would be strong enough to circumvent the protective barriers surrounding the school."

An ugly silence followed.

"Do you know who the spy is?" Ron asked, trying to sound hopeful but coming off as uneasy.

"I'm afraid not Ron, and that is what makes it all the more frightening and also why we must be extra vigilant." Ignitus said.

"You don't think it could be Professor Umbridge?!" Hermione asked Dumbledore.

"I have considered that Miss Granger, but I have ultimately ruled her out; Voldemort would not have had any chance to take control of her since The Dark Master arrived."

"Pity." Harry growled softly.

"So, where do we go from here?" Ron asked with a shrug of his shoulders.

"We believe Malefor has come to this world searching for something; something that could tip the balance of power in his and Voldemort's favour." Terrador answered.

"Do you know what that something is?" Harry asked, eager to help in any way he could.

"Unfortunately we do not know _exactly_ what it is Malefor is after." Cyril said in obvious disappointment, "What little information we were able to gather is that it is an ancient Dragon artefact of incredible power. We are unaware of the full extent of its power but it must be of great importance if Malefor was prepared to propose an alliance to Lord Voldemort."

Harry could tell were this was going, "And you came here to stop them from getting it, correct?"

"That is our plan." Cyril confirmed.

"If we can discover more about this unknown artefact then maybe we can discover more about Malefor's plan and how it involves Voldemort." Terrador added.

"And you want us to help you find it." Harry said, delighted that he was finally going to be of use to the Order.

"That's the idea-" Spyro began brightly, only to be cut off by Dumbledore.

"I'm afraid not Harry."

Harry rounded on the Headmaster in indignation, and Spyro himself looked confused at this.

"What do mean no?!" Harry asked, trying to stay calm.

"The whole point of this meeting was to give you, Ron and Hermione the heads up on what was happening; to make you aware of what we are now facing, not to get you more involved than you already are." He said sombrely.

The anger that Harry had kept under the surface at Dumbledore not sharing information with him flared up once again, "So, you want us to just stand back and do nothing?" He asked; it was taking every fibre of his being to keep his voice steady.

"That is correct Harry." Dumbledore said seriously, "Voldemort may have failed to have Malefor's forces capture you once, and that is truly fortunate for everyone here." He said as he gestured towards Ron and Hermione, "Now that we know what we are up against I can protect you and your friends better than before if Voldemort _does_ try again."

Spyro cleared throat and stepped forwards, "With all due respect Headmaster Dumbledore, Harry, Ron and Hermione showed that they can fight against Malefor's forces, and besides we'd be with them; they'd be safe enough."

"That is why you and Cynder shall be staying here at Hogwarts with them." Ignitus said.

Spyro and Cynder whipped around to face Ignitus, their eyes wide.

"You never mentioned anything like this." Cynder exclaimed in surprise.

"Think of it as a learning experience young Cynder, this way Harry and his friends will be even more protected than before with your exuberant, extravagant and amazing skills, not to mention you'll get to learn more about each other!" Volteer chipped in cheerfully.

Harry couldn't believe where this was going, "But I _know_ I can help you find whatever this object is! You know more than anyone that I want to see Voldemort gone and finished!" Harry shouted.

"It is for the best Mr Potter." Cyril said pompously, with and annoying air that the conversation had been closed.

"Are you sure about this?" Spyro asked the Guardians uncertainly.

"Yeah, it's not like Spyro and I can't take care of ourselves." Cynder added, annoyed.

"Please try to understand." Ignitus said patiently, "As much danger as Harry would be outside Hogwarts, the pair of you would be in just as much. I am _NOT_ saying you can't take care of yourselves." He added quickly, for the two showed every sign of interrupting him, "But we are fortunate that Malefor does not know we are here; if he ever got wind of that it could prove detrimental to the entire operation, and if one of you is captured the other we will forced to go along given your current, errr, _predicament_." He added gently.

At Ignitus's words a green chain appeared around Spyro and Cynder's necks, binding the two together, Spyro tugged at his with a claw in embarrassment and Cynder gave hers a look of the deepest loathing.

"What's with the cool necktie?" Ron joked.

"Long story." Spyro said with a weak grin as Cynder rolled her eyes.

Harry still wasn't letting this go without a fight, "But what about my psychic connection to Voldemort; won't he see that they're all here the next time he looks into my mind?!" He snarled.

Spyro and Cynder looked at Harry in shock.

"You have a connection into Voldemort's mind?!" Cynder said in shock.

"Which is why I must ask you to work harder than ever on your Occlumency lessons with Professor Snape Harry," Dumbledore said quickly, before Harry could answer Cynder, "Now it is more imperative than ever that you learn to close your mind against Voldemort."

"I'm trying, but it's not exactly been easy you know!" He growled in frustration.

"You must try harder Harry, for tonight I can give you a potion for a dreamless sleep to make sure that none of what has transpired here can slip into your dreams, but after that you must focus on your Occlumency lessons." Dumbledore did not sound angry, but something in his tone told Harry that that was his final word on the matter.

"Dumbledore is right Harry," Ignitus said soothingly, "It would be disastrous if you left the castle, then Voldemort could-"

"Look into your mind and see that we are searching for this unknown Dragon artefact." Dumbledore finished. But Harry and Spyro noticed a shadow cross over Ignitus's face; Dumbledore acted as though he had finished the Fire Guardian's sentence, but it was clear he had interrupted him from revealing crucial information.

Hermione stepped forward nervously, "I can understand their concerns Harry, and you'd be playing right into Voldemort's hands if you went out with the Guardians to look for this mystery artefact." She said timidly.

"As much as I hate to admit, they're right mate." Ron added, patting Harry on the shoulder.

Harry looked at his friends before turning to look at Dumbledore and each of the Guardians, he was still seething in anger at being left out of the loop once again, but he could see from their faces they were not going to be overruled. He took a deep breath before saying, "I can see I'm going to be overruled, so _alright_."

"Besides it'll be fascinating to learn more about both of you." Hermione said to Spyro and Cynder, brightening up significantly at the fact that she was going to have a chance to learn about the original breed of Dragon.

"Steady Hermione, they're our friends, not a class project." Ron said.

Spyro and Cynder laughed and even Harry found himself give a snort of amusement.

"Where will we be staying while we're at Hogwarts, here in the Forest?" Cynder asked Dumbledore.

"No I was thinking of somewhere more close at hand so that you can keep a better watch over Harry and the others." Dumbledore said cheerfully.

"Where?" Hermione asked, "You aren't saying we should keep them in the castle are you?"

"Oh, I think the Room of Requirement will be able to accommodate them quite nicely. You can hunt in the Forest during night." He answered with a small smile and a wink.

This threw Harry for a loop, somehow Dumbledore had known about them forming Dumbledore's Army. He should really have questioned why, but this _was_ Albus Dumbledore they were talking about, so he shouldn't really be surprised.

"Perhaps Harry, Ron and Hermione would be so kind as to show them to their new quarters." Ignitus suggested.

"What, do you want us to just walk a pair of Dragon's into the castle for all to see?" Ron asked incredulously, "Love to see the look on old Umbridge's face when they walk through the front doors."

"The Disillusionment Charms will suffice quite nicely." Dumbledore said as he drew his wand.

"Goodbye all of you see you soon." Spyro said as he flapped one of his wings in goodbye.

"Wish us luck." Cynder added serenely.

"It was a pleasure to meet all of you." Harry said as he gave a respectful bow.

"It truly was an honour." Hermione said with a small curtsy.

"It was a blast." Ron said as he gave a thumbs up.

"Good luck to you all." Ignitus said as he raised a paw in farewell, "I am sure we shall talk again soon."

"Consider this a test of a warrior's patience." Terrador added.

"Stiff upper lip." Cyril quipped.

"May the sun shine on your backs, may your spirits be bold, and may you have many-"

"Oh put a sock in it Volteer." Cyril groaned.

* * *

With the five of them Disillusioned, Dumbledore sent them back to the castle before turning back to the Guardians.

"I have every faith in them, the stage is set and the die has been rolled, all we can do now is to await the outcome."

"Not very much faith if you ask me," Ignitus said reproachfully, "You still haven't told Harry about what lies in the Department of Mysteries have you?" He asked as he stared down at the old wizard.

"I want Harry to remain as happy as possible as I have already explained to you," Dumbledore said, steadfastly, "I trust Spyro still does not know the truth about his own family?" He asked the elder Dragon in return.

Ignitus tried not to look abashed, but didn't make a very good job of it, "It seems we are both weighed down with the secrets of our pupil's respective destinies."

Dumbledore nodded in agreement, "But if Harry is half as smart as I know he is, then he will already believe that part of his destiny is to help Spyro recover this lost draconian artefact."

"Spyro will have deduced the same, which is why I'm sure you'll do everything in your power to ensure that the pair of them don't try to sneak out of the castle at night to search for it." Ignitus asked teasingly.

Dumbledore smiled mischievously, "Of course my friend, of course."

Dumbledore was confident that no one had seen him leading the Trio out into the Forest, but someone had seen them; someone who had been anticipating this move from the old headmaster, someone who at this very moment was watching unseen from the cover of the trees not far from where the Guardians and the Headmaster stood., someone who had seen and heard everything and who now turned and made their way back to the castle.

* * *

"They have? Perfect. No, watch and wait for the time being, then report back to me as soon as you discover anything interesting." The image in red crystal around Igor Karkaroff's neck vanished; he lowered it and turned to face Voldemort sitting at the head of a long ornate, mahogany table.

"You were right; Spyro and the Guardians are here, Dumbledore took Potter and his two friends into the Forest to meet them."

Voldemort smiled from beneath his hood, "Excellent."

"I take it that you now trust the integrity of the master's spy?" Karkaroff asked.

Voldemort nodded slowly.

Karkaroff smiled, showing his yellow teeth, before standing up, "I'd better report our latest success to the master; he likes to know any and everything that happens." He said before sweeping out of the room.

"Voldemort's smile broadened, Nagini curled herself up around the chair and around her master, her head coming to rest across his shoulders. He petted her absentmindedly.

"It certainly was a success Igor, and when this is all over, it will be the greatest success of all….for _me_."


End file.
